Sachin Tendulkar said that he does not favor neutral venues because of the lack of partisan crowds. The man who scored a century in his first outing for Mumbai in nearly two years in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Saurashtra.

However, he even enjoyed playing at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, which Tendulkar said that it was one of his favourite grounds in the world, he preferred a venue which was either side's home ground.

An official told on Monday that India is looking forward to play an extra Test during the upcoming tour of New Zealand to offset losses after the cancellation of matches against England and Pakistan.

Ratnakar Shetty, Chief administrative officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said, "We have requested New Zealand to accommodate an extra Test to the series. We are waiting for a response from them."

In the month of March-April India had planned to play Tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match in New Zealand.

Sydney: The double blade bats are all set to revolutionize the cricket world. For the first time, New South Wales (NSW) batsman David Warner and Aiden Blizzard of Victoria will use these bats in Australia's Twenty20 tournament.

The new bats are considered to give batsman an edge in some way or the other in the shortest version of the game.

Earlier on Monday, pinch-hitting batsman Warner tried out the new bat for the first time at the SCG nets.

Nagpur: Medium pacer Praveen Kumar took three wickets as Tamil Nadu were restricted to 445 on Day two of their Ranji Trophy semi-final match against Uttar Pradesh.

Resuming at the overnight score of 296 for the loss of 2 wickets, Tamil Nadu team lost the momentum in the in the very first session of the play. Praveen took the key scalp of S Badrinath after the batsman had added just six runs to his overnight score. The right hand batsman scored a well made 65 runs. Praveen then sent back Tamil Nadu captain Dinesh Karthik(72) and S S Kumar(12).

Lahore, Jan. 6 : Pakistan's top middle order batsman, Younis Khan, has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to provide better sporting facilities at the domestic arena to uplift the standards of the sport in the country.

Khan said that the PCB should provide better facilities to participating teams in domestic cricket.

"The PCB needs to ensure that the pitches are sporting enough for both batsmen and bowlers and not one-sided," the Nation quoted Khan, as saying.

Sydney, Jan. 6 : South Africa have wasted little time in attending to injured captain Graeme Smith.

Smith has flown to Melbourne to receive treatment on his broken left hand and undergo an autologous blood injection on his right elbow.

The Proteas are desperate for Smith to regain full fitness in time for Australia''s forthcoming Test tour and have attempted to expedite the healing process by having him treated immediately.

Barely 18 hours after Mitchell Johnson struck him a series-ending blow to the hand, Smith was on a plane to Melbourne for an appointment with local surgeon Greg Hoy to have the fracture attended to.