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Gary Kirsten has said that India’s goal in 2009 is to be the No. 1 team in the world. India’s coach, who has received praise from many in the Indian team, felt the side’s biggest improvement in recent times was the way they prepared for a game.Following Australia’s loss to New Zealand in the second ODI at the MCG, India have moved to second place in the ICC’s official ODI rankings. “Getting to No. 1 is the obvious goal for this year,” said Kirsten, “but it’s not playing too much on our minds. To do that, it’s important for the basics to be right. We are just trying to focus on taking it game by game and series by series. The team ethic is great. Everyone is preparing really well for a game and we are moving in the right direction.”Today’s was an optional nets session at the R Premadasa, and the attendees included SachinTendulkar, L Balaji, Irfan Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja. Tendulkar batted for 45 minutes and was constantly chatting with the bowlers on the correct line to bowl. Venkatesh Prasad, India’s bowling coach, spent lots of time with Irfan, primarily working on his length. Tendulkar even bowled to Jadeja and passed some tips now and then to the young allrounder.Irfan’s form has been a concern for India. Given the new ball in the last game – his only appearance on tour so far – Irfan ended up with 3 for 58 from seven overs; his first spell read 5-0-42-1 as Sanath Jayasuriya went after him. India have been using their slow bowlers in the middle overs, retaining the seamers for the Powerplays.Kirsten had earlier said the lack of an allrounder who bowls seam had forced the team to take that route, and he felt it had been a bit difficult for Irfan as he has been in and out of the team. “I really can’t comment after just one game,” said Kirsten. “He [Irfan] is working hard in the nets. He has a good work ethic and hopefully will get the rewards for it.”To be the No. 1 team in the world, Kirsten said that India would have to dominate the opposition consistently. It was something that Gautam Gambhir also stressed upon, while talking about the dead-rubber game at this same venue on February 8. “When you playing for your country you can’t take any game lightly,” he said. “It’s going to be a fantastic achievement if we can make it 5-0. You want to be a part of the team which is creating this history.”You can’t just think that you have won the series 4-0 and be complacent for the next game. It doesn’t happen with us. When you go onto the field you go to win and not just compete. Great teams are those that carry the momentum forward into every game.”India have won the series and the final match is to be played at the R Premadasa as well.

Farveez Maharoof, the Sri Lanka bowling allrounder, has been ruled out of the two-Test series in Pakistan with a groin injury. Maharoof, who had been overlooked for the first Test currently in progress in Karachi, will fly home and in his place the selectors have called up Nuwan Kulasekara.Maharoof sustained the injury during a practice session before the first Test at Karachi’s National Stadium. “Maharoof is suffering from a groin injury and the doctors have advised him to rest,” a team official told .Sri Lanka’s coach Trevor Bayliss said Kulasekara would join the team before the second Test in Lahore starting March 1.Maharoof, 24, has represented Sri Lanka in 20 Tests and 91 ODIs since his debut in April 2004. After the Test series in Pakistan, Sri Lanka are scheduled to play five ODIs against Zimbabwe in March and then the World Twenty20 in June.Maharoof, however, is contracted to the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. The second season of the Indian Twenty20 league runs from April 10 to May 24.

Kate Blackwell, the Australian middle-order batsman, has been dropped from the squad for next month’s Rose Bowl Series in New Zealand and the World Cup in March. Blackwell was part of the 30 probables announced earlier but could not find a place in the final 15-member squad which includes seven of her New South Wales team-mates.She scored 39 runs in five matches against India and had an ordinary domestic season, averaging 35 from eight games, with one half-century. Marg Jennings, the chairperson of the selection panel, said Blackwell, along with Sarah Edwards, was unlucky to miss out. “Kate Blackwell and Sarah Edwards have been regular members of the Australian team in previous seasons and while it’s obviously disappointing for both to miss selection for such an important tournament, the WNSP [selection panel] feels it has chosen well-balanced squad for the defence of the World Cup.”Erin Osborne, the New South Wales offspinner who is leading the National Cricket League’s wicket-takers list, earned her first call-up to the national side.The squad also includes Jessica Cameron, the only Australia Under-21 player from among five in the probables to make the final cut. Cameron impressed with half-centuries against the senior team and the touring Indians last October. Rene Farrell, who played two ODIs in 2007 and was part of the squad announced for the 2008-09 season, finds a place as well. Jodie Fields and Leonie Coleman are the two wicketkeepers in the squad.Melissa Bulow, Kris Britt and Clea Smith, who were named among the probables despite not having played for Australia for over a year, were overlooked. Kirsten Pike missed out on selection after a foot injury cut short her domestic season.Australia women squad: Karen Rolton (capt), Lisa Sthalekar, Emma Sampson, Alex Blackwell, Jodie Fields, Leonie Coleman, Shelley Nitschke, Lauren Ebsary, Leah Poulton, Ellyse Perry, Delissa Kimmince, Jessica Cameron, Rene Farrell, Erin Osborne, Sarah Andrews.

Spinner Ajantha Mendis has joined Sri Lanka’s Test squad in Dhaka after recovering from the ankle injury he sustained in a domestic first-class match earlier this month. “My ankle is alright now and I am not feeling any pain,” he told reporters on his arrival.Mendis, who picked up 26 wickets in his debut three-Test series against India, was replaced by left-arm spinner Rangana Herath for the Bangladesh Tests after he was expected to be out of action for three to four weeks. Mendis had suffered severe soft tissue damage in his right ankle while playing for Sri Lanka Army Sports Club against Tamil Union – his first domestic game this season.He is expected to return to Sri Lanka’s line-up for the second Test, which begins in Chittagong on January 3. Sri Lanka are poised for a 1-0 lead in the series, having amassed a 406-run lead in their second innings of the first Test. There are two days remaining in the Test, which had Tuesday pencilled in a rest day – unusual in recent years – due to the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.Following the Tests, Sri Lanka will play a triangular one-day tournament also involving Zimbabwe, which starts on January 10. Mendis, who has 48 wickets from 18 ODIs, is likely to become the quickest to 50 wickets – Ajit Agarkar currently holds the record, having reached the milestone in his 23rd match.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Whether it’s a contest over 50 overs, 20 overs, or – as it turned out today – 22, India’s one-day cricketers are simply streets ahead of England’s. They duly claimed an unassailable 4-0 lead in the seven-game series thanks to a 19-run victory in a match that was rescued from a soggy grave by some valiant work from the Bangalore groundstaff.After nearly five hours of rain delays, the contest was minutes away from an abandonment when the umpires decreed that the conditions were fit for play, and as things turned out, their decision proved to be worthwhile. For eight hard-hitting overs, while Owais Shah and Andrew Flintoff were together at the crease, adding 82 for the fourth wicket, England put up the best fight they have shown all series. But in the final analysis, the unbridled flamboyance of India’s batsmen, coupled with the nerveless short-form skills that India’s bowlers have learnt from their time in the IPL, proved decisive.In every respect, India’s approach to the game was superior to that of their opponents. Virender Sehwag epitomised the difference in mindset – the bulk of his 69 from 57 balls came when he was batting with a view to lasting for 50 overs, but in the final analysis you would hardly be able to tell the difference. He started the match by belting James Anderson’s first ball over the covers for four, as India cruised a healthy 106 for 1 after 17 overs. Then, nearly seven hours later, he clobbered Samit Patel’s first ball of the resumption for six, as India reappeared to help themselves to 60 more runs in the remaining five overs of their reduced allocation.India’s ability to switch tempo at will was astonishing and, to England’s rigid mentality, unthinkable. Yuvraj Singh belted three more sixes to continue his extraordinary run of form with 25 not out from 11 balls, while both Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan – from the final ball of the innings – also launched the first balls they faced into the stands. Their final total of 166 for 4 was rightly adjusted under the Duckworth-Lewis method to an imposing target of 198, a prospect that looked stillborn when England began their chase.The contrast between Sehwag’s onslaught and the cautious dirge chosen by England’s openers was stark. Only 21 runs came from England’s first six Powerplay overs, and though Zaheer Khan, who finished with 2 for 20 from five overs, was exceptional – both for his own bowling and the way in which he guided his younger team-mates – England’s stifling orthodoxy was bewildering and self-defeating. Playing with a pendulum-straight bat, Ravi Bopara played out four dot balls in the first over, before being caught by a flying Ishant Sharma in the second, while Ian Bell managed a gravity defying seven runs in seven overs.With every straight-batted push that England produced, the run-rate leapt another notch or ten. Bell was eventually bowled for 12 while attempting a sweep against Harbhajan Singh, and though Kevin Pietersen clipped his first ball effortlessly through midwicket for four, he had arrived at the crease approximately eight overs too late. In his haste to make up for lost time, he inside-edged a massive swipe across the line, and was bowled for 5 by a gleeful Sharma.India’s dominance at this stage was so total that Yuvraj was able to burst out laughing after a blunder from Suresh Raina on the square leg rope gifted Shah an extra boundary. Slowly but surely, however, England found their feet. Shah brought up his half-century in flamboyant style – and from an unexpectedly brisk 35 deliveries – with a pull through midwicket off Sharma, then creamed a huge six into the stands with a fetched slog-sweep off Yuvraj. Flintoff, meanwhile, ran a clever four off an open-faced bat after noticing that third man was up in the circle, and then made Harbhajan pay for one full-toss too many by swiping him fiercely through cow corner.That single blow gave Flintoff the confidence he needed, because he followed up with arguably the biggest blow of the series so far, a gargantuan swipe that might have ended up in Chennai had it not rebounded off the top of the stadium roof. It meant that England had added 61 in five overs, at the required rate of two a ball, and for the first time in four matches they were matching India’s strokeplay shot for shot.Shah continued in the same vein, greeting Munaf Patel’s return with another flick into the midwicket stands to bring the requirement down to 73 runs from 43 balls. But back came Zaheer for the final Powerplay, and after conceding three runs from his first four balls, he beat Shah with a low full toss that flew off the leading edge to Sachin Tendulkar at point to end a fantastic innings of 72 from 48 balls. In the very next over, Flintoff drove a slower ball from Sharma to extra cover, and England’s two big guns had gone in the space of five balls.That was effectively that. Samit Patel drove his first ball through long-on for four as he and Collingwood kept England in contention until the penultimate over. But Zaheer, kept bowling full and fast, removed Patel via a butterfingered catch in the covers from Gambhir, and Munaf was given the honour of sealing the contest as he successfully defended the 27 runs England still needed in the final over. For the fourth match in a row, England had shown an improvement on their earlier efforts in the series, and yet the gulf between the sides appeared as wide as ever before. The prospect of a 7-0 clean sweep looms ever larger.

Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds were as tight as a slips cordon before Clarke, Australia’s stand-in captain, was part of a group that sent the allrounder into two months of exile. Symonds came back in to the squad this week following his off-field rehabilitation and is a strong chance to return to the starting XI against New Zealand in Brisbane on Thursday, despite a lean streak for Queensland and the strong claims of other players in and out of the side.A cocktail party on Monday night helped Symonds rejoin the group following his poorly timed fishing trip in Darwin, but already there is a feeling not much has changed. A couple of players have said Symonds is the same as before – they genuinely mean it is a good thing – but while he was away there was hope for a change of behavioural pattern.”It’s probably been exactly how it was before he left, which has been great for both of us,” Clarke said of his relationship with Symonds. “It’s always good to see Symo back. It is really good having him back and I think our relationship, as you guys have seen today, we are going well.”Clarke guaranteed all the players were happy to have Symonds around and the allrounder was “in a great place at the moment”. “The main thing that Symo has done is look at himself in the mirror and worked out for himself what he needed to do to get back into this team,” Clarke said. “That was a big priority for the leadership group and the team. We wanted Symo to dothat and it’s great to see he’s done that.”One serious concern is Symonds’ batting after he scored only 70 runs for Queensland in three Sheffield Shield matches before being brought in to the 13-man Test squad. He was having more trouble during a training session in the Gabba’s indoor nets – which offer significantly lessmovement than the ones outside – on Tuesday, but there was not a lack of intensity in his shouting after he edged a couple of deliveries. The words echoed in the ears of some primary school children who attended the practice as part of Cricket Australia’s in2cricket programme, and they also heard an upset Shane Watson after he was struck in the chest by a Mitchell Johnson short ball.Watson performed admirably at No. 6 during the tour of India, but Symonds’ game-breaking abilities give him an advantage in a head-to-head contest with his Queensland team-mate. More rain fell in Brisbane on Tuesday, increasing the likelihood of a pace-heavy attack, which improves the chances of Watson and Stuart Clark playing ahead of the offspinner Jason Krejza.”A few guys have asked [the chairman of selectors] Andrew Hilditch what’s happening with the team and I think his response at the moment is that he’s got no idea because we haven’t seen the wicket,” Clarke said.He is ready for the change from the flat Indian surfaces to a Brisbane greentop, even though the players have been restricted to one short batting stint outside since training began on Monday.”It probably just affects your preparation more than anything else,” Clarke said. “As a player you’ve got to prepare like the sun is going to be shining on Thursday morning and you are ready to go. Not being able to train outside today and a little bit of rain at training yesterday probably affects us a little bit, but it’s the same for both teams.”New Zealand’s seamers are more familiar with these conditions and it will be a testing time for Australia’s batsmen following their troubles with the swinging ball in India. “Especially the way the weather’s been, that should help their bowlers,” Clarke said. “I definitely believe they’ve gota good enough attack to give us a headache if we don’t bat well.”Clarke, who lost 4kg on the India tour, has recovered from a chest infection that hindered him in the fourth Test in Nagpur, although despite a bright smile he still looks a little on the skinny side. He was relieved to return home and discover the exact nature of the problem.”I feel fine now, I had a good hit yesterday and a good hit today,” he said. “I don’t think it’s affected my body and being back in Australia as well – eating a bit of good Aussie food – has put a bit of weight back on me as well. So I think I’ll be fine.”

Scorecard