After seeing India's brilliant performance in one-day cricket, former skipper and prolific right hand batsman Kevin Pietersen believes that the IPL is the reason behind men in blue's success and said if English players were to lift their game, they too must play in the Twenty20 tournament.

Speaking with BBC, Pietersen said, “I think the reason why India has gone through the roof is because of the Indian Premier League (IPL).”

''After missing out last year, there is no way we can get up there if we don't play,'' he said.

In a significant move, the police arrested a man suspected of sending two threat letters sent to the Indian cricket team skipper M S Dhoni last year.

Confirming the development, H K Lal, DCP, said, "We have detained a man and are interrogating him. His name is Taslim. But we have not yet arrived at any conclusion.”

It can be recalled that Taslim, who has been arrested here on Thursday, is wanted in over a dozen criminal cases in Jharkhand.

Los Angeles  - Paul Pierce stepped up, and the Boston Celtics tightened up the Eastern Conference race.

Pierce scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half, and the Celtics bounced the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 105-94 on Friday night in a battle of the East's elite.

"For us to get this win is huge," Pierce said, "because we're both playing for first-place in the Eastern Conference and for home-court advantage."

Stockholm  - While tennis players from Israel and Sweden prepare for their upcoming three-day Davis Cup tie, organizers of a protest against the event said they hoped to gather more than 8,000 participants.

The umbrella group, Stop the Match, said Wednesday it was committed to a peaceful protest on Saturday - before the doubles match - near the arena in the southern Swedish city Malmo.

Barcelona - Toro Rosso will bec

Powered by a tidy bowling performance, India registered a comprehensive 23-run victory over South Africa in their women's World Cup warm-up fixture in Sydney on Tuesday.

Batting first, the star studded Indian team could only score 167 runs in 45.3 overs.

Opening batsman Anjum Chopra top scored with 53. In a 107 ball knock, Chopra scored 73 runs for the second wicket with former skipper Mithali Raj, who scored a crucial 29 runs.

For South Africa, pace bowler Shabnim Ismail took 4 wickets for 35 runs.