Have you recovered from your injury fully or you have decided to play on because of the significance of the series against Australia?

My hand is fully recovered. The medical team is managing my elbow injury until there is a gap in our schedule to allow for surgery.

But how come there is such a transformation in your team - where have all those chokers gone? You guys are showing an indomitable fighting spirit, you yourself have batted with a broken hand.

There is no history of chokers with this team as evidenced by our win in the famous 438 game (South Africa chased that total against Australia at Wanderers in March 2006). You have to get into a winning position to choke and, when we have got on top, we have generally gone on to win.

With less than 24 hours to board the flight to Australia, the Indian women's cricket team appeared upbeat about locking horns with the best in the ICC Women's World Cup. Skipper Jhulan Goswami was happy with the preparations and is keen to go the distance beginning their campaign on March 7 against Pakistan at Bradman Oval in Bowral .

Putting last year's 0-5 whipping at the hands of world champions Australia behind them, the captain wants to take one step at a time. "Overall we didn't play good cricket then but we have since worked hard on building the unit and hopefully we will do well this time," Goswami said on the eve of team's departure.

It could be the moment of truth for Lalit Modi. The high profile chairman of the Indian Premier League is locked in an acrimonious battle for the reins of the Rajasthan Cricket Association. Sanjay Dixit, a senior IAS officer in the Rajasthan government is providing Modi the kind of resistance that even Jagmohan Dalmiya could not pose to his authority.

A win or defeat may not immediately affect Modi's twin positions — the vice-presidency of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the chairmanship of IPL — but an adverse result would be an embarrassment for the jet-setting administrator of Indian cricket.

Wellington, Feb. 28: New Zealand Cricket (NZC) will increase on ground security for the upcoming one day matches against India, after a bottle was thrown onto the field during last night''s Twenty20 international in Wellington.

Play was halted briefly towards the end of the New Zealand innings after a plastic bottle was thrown from the crowd on to the ground close to Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan.

Pakistani skipper Younis Khan's maiden triple ton against Sri Lanka in the drawn Test at Karachi moved him six places ahead to take the number one position in the latest ICC player rankings for Test batsmen released here.

Wellington (New Zealand), Feb. 28 : The New Zealand cricket squad for the first three one day internationals (ODI) against India announced today features the return of Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Kyle Mills, all of who were out of the squad with different injuries.

Ewen Thompson and Nathan McCullum from the Twenty20 squad have been omitted.

Stuff. co. nz quoted selection panel chairman Glenn Turner as saying that the squad was a strong one, which reflected the sizeable pool of players in consistent good form at international and domestic levels.

The selectors had decided not to include a second spinner in the initial ODI squad, Turner said.