Ace cricketer and former Indian Captian Sourav Ganguly bid farewell to first-class cricket a month after retiring from international cricket.

Ganguly had volunteered to play for Bengal in the Ranji Plate semifinal against Goa at the Karnail Singh Stadium here to help the team return to the elite division of domestic cricket.

Mohali, Dec. 22: Indian cricket coach Gary Kirsten is not happy with English captain Kevin Pietersen's `switch hit', and termed the shot disadvantageous for bowlers.

He said that the shot puts the tribe of bowlers in a distinctly disadvantageous position and administrators of the game should bring in change in the laws to right the wrong.

"I think we have to do something about the law of the game, because it's a big advantage for the batsman and a disadvantage for the bowlers," The News quoted Kirsten, as saying.

Pietersen unleashed the much debated shot against Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra in the ongoing Mohali test match.

Islamabad, Dec. 22: Pakistan cricket coach Intikhab Alam has backed Shoaib Malik as captain of the squad and suggested that he should continue as captain of the side.

Alam said that under the captaincy of Malik the team has shown enough improvement and Malik himself has matured enough.

"He should continue as the captain of the team and has improved tremendously as a captain over the years. With the experience he has gained over the years, he is now a much improved captain," The News quoted Alam, as saying.

He predicted with a bit of more experience Malik could prove as one of the best captains, Pakistan has ever produced.

Karachi, Dec. 22 : Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has said that his team is chalking out a special strategy to deal with Sri Lanka's sensational spinner Ajantha Mendis in the upcoming series.

Showing concerns about Sri Lanka's spin department, Malik said that Sri Lanka possess two quality spinners but for them the matter of concern was Mendis as Pakistan players have played Muralitharan earlier several times.

"Sri Lanka have two quality spinners in Muttiah Muralitharan and Mendis, but we have played Murali a number of times and now need to master Mendis, who has been doing very well," The News quoted Malik, as saying.

Malik singled out sensational Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis as his team''s main challenge.

Sydney, Dec 21: Former Australian fast-bowling great Glenn McGrath has described as "premature" the suggestion that pace spearhead Brett Lee is on the way out.

McGrath hailed the arrival of left-armer Mitchell Johnson as great news, saying he was disappointed Australia's new pace ace missed out on a nine-wicket haul in the first innings of the Test underway in Perth.

Lee has been heavily scrutinised since Australia's ill-fated tour of India and the findings haven't painted a bright picture, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

A good batting performance from the top order batsman and a well-made 113 by former skipper Amol Muzumdar helped Mumbai to took a huge 234 run lead over Punjab on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Division Group ‘A’ match.  

Replying to 202 runs scored by Punjab in their first innings, Mumbai declared their first innings at 436 for nine.

Mazumdar scored his 24th first class century in his 142nd match. At the end of the play, Punjab made 18 for no loss.