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Kirsten was interviewed in Delhi by the coach selection committee. Anil Kumble, India's test captain, was also present at the meeting. The committee had decided to expedite the process and see that coach is there before the tour of Australia next month.Gary Kirsten, the former South African opener, is the surprise front-runner to be India's next coach. While the Indian board said Kirsten was interviewed by the coach selection committee on Monday and a formal announcement, while board has given Kirsten a weeks time to make his decision or will he repeat Ford's story.

Kirsten has an impressive record was one of South Africa's leading batsmen, playing 101 Tests scoring 7289 runs at 45.27 and playing 185 ODIs scoring 6798 runs at 40.95 Soon after his retirement from Test cricket in March 2004, Kirsten embarked on a coaching career, taking up an assignment as Cricket South Africa's high performance manager, after which he set up the privately-run Gary Kirsten Cricket Academy.Hope India's search for coach ends here before all important Australia's tour.

Emerging triumphant on his debut as captain, Anil Kumble said the team performed
well during crucial stages and that proved decisive in clinching the Test.Sachin Tendulkar was unbeaten on a half-century and India chased down a target they had never managed before at the Feroz Shah Kotla with six wickets to spare.A wicket had fallen, Ganguly on 48, with 22 still needed for victory. But there would be no more heroics as Tendulkar too the lead and knocked off the required runs with a minimum of fuss. Equally, it was fitting that Anil Kumble, who picked up seven wickets
in his first match as captain, walked away with the Man-of-the-Match award.Malik responded that they will come back strongly in the second match in kolkata starting this friday, mean while in the practise session malik injured himself while trying his hand playing football.

It was a brilliant bowling effort to keep pakistan under 250 in both the innings and a very very special batting by hyderabadi(VVS) helped india put an 40 odd run lead in the first innings and a good partnership between ganguly and sachin made India win the match easily.

India squad for first two Tests has been enounced, intrestingly Sehwag who has an thumping average against pakistan did'nt get thump's-up from selection commitee.Other than that there are'nt any surprises.Kubmle will be leading a side which has a good blend of youth and experience,dhoni will be his deputy.Selectors have given a clear idea that dhoni will be leading the test team in future by making him the deputy, and at this point they dont want to burden him with test captancy.There is no place for Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag or Irfan Pathan, with the cold weather expected for the first two test matches looking at the geographical positions, selectors have not gone in for another spinner Piysuh Chawla.Three Mediam pacers and two spinners is ideal combination.Gambhir, who didn't play the Tests in England, will have to wait for his time as Wasim Jaffer-Dinesh Karthik combination has worked splendidly so far: ten innings, 650 runs at an average of 72.22, including three century stands, was enough for the selectors to retain the pair.

Indian Squad:
1 Dinesh Karthik, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Sreesanth, 12 Yuvraj Singh, 13 RP Singh, 14 Murali Kartik.

India Vs Pakistan series at its best with India leading the series 2-1 with two
matches to go.India gave away the 2nd match to pakistan with a target of 320 odd runs to defend and managed to lose with super batting diaply by Yousuf and last minute blisterring knock by Afridi, mainly thanks to the Indian fielding, but this was not the case in the third match mainly the bowling department, a special mention about come back boy Irfan is needed here, Afridi's Wicket in the 3rd one day is very
crucial where all the cricket fraternity knows how hard he can hit the ball,
specially the knock last time the pakistan team visited the same ground.Fielding in
the power play is the worst you can expect from the Indian team to that matter any
international team.

Intelligent bowling, good captancy and improved fielding in the latter part has
helped India win the match, but not convincingly.With the series interestingly poised at 2-1 its all about pressure which ever team handels it better will emerge out winning.

Sachin Tendulkar has declined the Indian Test captaincy.The Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed that Tendulkar turned down the offer as he felt a younger captain would be better.

The board also clarified that Tendulkar didn't reject the captaincy as a mark of protest, especially after the dropping of seniors like Rahul Dravid. "We wish to clarify that Sachin has not written any letter nor has he expressed anguish about anything as is being projected in the media." Selectors are set to hand the captaincy to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has played 20 Tests. "So Dhoni looks the favourite. It's a plus that he is already the one-day and Twenty20 captain."

The selectors are due to meet at Mohali on November 8 to announce the team for subsequent one-day internationals in the current series against Pakistan, and pick a Test captain. I guess a very very special thinking by selectors will ensure captancy to VVS Lakshman. Too much of pressure on Dhoni will impact his batting, I guess VVS is the correct option for fitting in the spot.

India had the best of Pakistan in the first match at gawhati, restricting them to 239 and then knocking off the runs through a string of contributions from the top order. When Shoaib Malik won the toss and chose to bat it appeared to be a sound decision, given that the pitch was dry, on the slower side.The fall of Akmal's wicket, however, when he was declared lbw to Irfan Pathan changed the fortune of pakistan. Younis Khan was uncomfortable batting on this pitch - with the ball not coming on truly - and grew increasingly disturbed as India's spinners checked the flow of runs. Soon after reaching a well-paced half-century, Butt did himself no favours when he charged down the pitch after the ball speared off the leading edge towards cover, only to be sent back by his partner and run out.Mohammad Yousuf guided Pakistan to 239 with his unbeaten 83.


Shoaib Akhtar gave Pakistan some hope early on when he trapped Tendulkar in front with a slower ball, with only 14 on the board. But Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir then added 82 for the third wicket to take India towards safety. Neither Ganguly
nor Gambhir was in total control at the crease, with some streaky strokes eluding the fielders, but when the opportunity was there to score both batsmen backed their instincts and it paid off.Then came another partnership, of 105, between India's captain and vice-captain and this all but sealed the deal. Mahendra Singh Dhoni had come out in the mood to give the ball a thrash, sluggish pitch notwithstanding, and he succeeded. Both Yuvraj and Dhoni reached the half-century mark, and with only 22 needed for victory Pakistan broke the partnership. Dhoni (63) flashed at Shoaib,who returned to the attack in the 45th over, and India wobbled at the doorstep of victory. Only 15 were needed for victory at that stage, and you wondered why Malik had not re-introduced Shoaib earlier. Robin Uthappa and Pathan knocked off the remaining runs and the five-wicket win gave India a 1-0 lead in this five-match series.

Man of the Match : Dhoni

Sachin Tendulkar has dismissed speculation that he is thinking of retiring from one-day cricket."I have honestly not thought about the fact that I only need to play one version of the game to play the other longer. I am enjoying whatever I am doing at the moment. The moment I feel I am not enjoying myself, I will start thinking about it."I think I still like to do a lot of things on the cricket field. When I am bowling, I would want to do something more, surprise the batsman, beat him with a little bit of extra seam or some spin or whatever I am doing. That excitement is something else.Even today when I do that I feel happy. I donno why people and media are concerned about his retirement when he is going great guns and he being the prolofic run getter in the last 2-3 series for India.Age is not the criteria for getting selected it should be the performanance, when the youth what the selectors are inclined towards are not getting the runs it is important to nurture the talent with a blend of experience and youth,but it should not be at the cost of seniors.

India Vs Pakistan is scheduled to begin with lot of speculations and high drama of political developments back home in pakistan.India underwent a training camp before the one day series in calcutta, while pakistan played their only warm up match against Delhi team and won it with ease, below is the schedule.

1st ODI: India v Pakistan at Guwahati - Nov 5, 2007 (09:00 local time (03:30 GMT)


2nd ODI: India v Pakistan at Mohali - Nov 8, 2007 (14:30 local, 09:00 GMT)


3rd ODI: India v Pakistan at Kanpur - Nov 11, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)


4th ODI: India v Pakistan at Gwalior - Nov 15, 2007 (14:30 local, 09:00 GMT)


5th ODI: India v Pakistan at Jaipur - Nov 18, 2007 (14:30 local, 09:00 GMT)