Dashing middle-order batsman, Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten century as Mumbai recuperated from a wretched start to reach a respectable 297 for six at close on an eagerly competitive opening day of the Ranji Trophy cricket final against Uttar Pradesh.

Sharma led the fight back with a risky unbeaten 113 and the 207 runs he shared with Abhishek Nayar (99) aided Mumbai survive Bhuvneshwar Kumar's five-wicket haul.

Vijay Mallya, owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has maintained that he has not yet finalized Rahul Dravid as the skipper of the Indian Premier League team.

Commenting over the media report that Dravid has been retained as captain of the team, Mallya said, "Who said so? After all, I am the boss of the team. I will decide who will be the captain."

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sources have alleged that fast bowler Mohammad Asif did carry a small amount of opium when he was detained at the Dubai airport last year.

The official documents of the Public Prosecutor's office maintain that Asif cannot travel to Dubai.

It may be here recalled that after playing the inaugural Indian Premier League, the fast bowler had to spent 19 days in detention for possessing banned drugs.

Documents sent by the Public Prosecutor's office in Dubai proved that Asif had been deported last June for possession of 0.24 grams of opium.

Debutant opener David Warner declared his arrival into the global vista with a blasting innings of 43-ball 89 to help Australia beat South Africa by 52 runs in the first Twenty20 fight.  

Warner, who became the first Australian player to play in any format of the game without a first-class experience, raided the South African bowlers cruelly with seven fours and six clean hits over the ropes.

Set to chase a intimidating target of 183, South Africa was off to a terrible start and was bowled out for 130 with JP Duminy (78) once again proving his worth as a top quality batsman for the Proteas.

Even though he may have been dro

Saina Nehwal's splendid run at the Malaysian Open Super Series badminton came to an end as she went down fighting in the quarterfinals against fourth seed PI Hongyan of France here on Friday.

The World number 10, Saina saved four match points but finally went down 17-21, 26-24, 16-21 against the World number seven Hongyan.

Hongyan went up 4-0 in the first game before Saina levelled at 4-4.

However, Hongyan improved the tempo to claim the opening game.