A five wicket haul by out-of-form Ajit Agarkar, helped Mumbai to win its Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Himachal Pradesh by nine wickets at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera on Monday.

Resuming at the overnight score of 200 for the loss of 5 wickets, Himachal Pradesh team could add only 87 runs to its score tally before getting all out for 287, thus, giving Mumbai a target of 43 runs to win the match.

Former Pakistan skipper Javed Miandad jeered at Cricket Australia's plans to host a day-night Test against Pakistan in Adelaide in November next year.

Speaking on this, Miandad said, “No we will not go with this idea as we don't support attempts to spoil the traditional nature of Test matches, which are still the heart and soul of cricket.”

Earlier, it was reported by The Sunday Telegraph that CA would soon seek International Cricket Council's approval for holding the match that will have a 1400 hrs (local time) start.

A well made 67 from Tanmay Srivastava facilitated Uttar Pradesh to reach 289 for eight in their second innings and virtually shut Gujarat out of the game on the penultimate day of the quarterfinal match.

At the end of the third day’s play, UP were 477 runs ahead with two second innings wickets in hand at Motibagh ground here.

Resuming at the overnight score of 76 for the loss of one wicket, young lad Suresh Raina fell victim to Parmar. Tanmay Srivastava (67runs, 149balls, 4 boundaries) played a patient knock but a doosra from Parmar saw the end of his courageous innings.

Star soccer player David Beckham would be provided 24-hour security when he arrives at United Arab Emirates.

It is learnt that the 33 year old Beckham would be given Dubai's biggest security cover ever. Beckham is scheduled to reach UAE on Monday.

Earlier, the Daily Star has reported that the former English captain would be an ideal target and thus a special security team will be dragged in.

Life begins after retirement! Perhaps this might sound true for former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly. Even after retiring from the international cricket, Ganguly’s appeal is still unrelieved.

The latest news is that the Bengal icon has appeared in the DYFI’s (CPM’s youth wing) calendar for 2009. The calendar was unveiled at Ganguly’s residence in Behala on Friday.

The DYFI's zonal committee at Rajarhat conceived the idea to honour the former Indian skipper.