Treeduck

Johannesburg, Sep 23 (PTI) Injury-hit India''s Champions Trophy campaign was today dealt a massive blow as middle-order mainstay Yuvraj Singh was ruled out of the eight-nation event due to a fractured right-hand finger. The stylish left-hander, who picked up the injury during a training session today, has been advised rest for six weeks and will return home.

Delhi middle order batsman Virat Kohli has been named as Yuvraj''s replacement. "Yuvraj Singh has fractured a finger in his right hand and has been ruled out for six weeks.

The selectors have chosen Virat Kohli as replacement for Yuvraj Singh," the BCCI said in a statement. "He will fly out as soon as formalities are completed," it added.

India will open their campaign against arch rivals Pakistan on September 26. Yuvraj was enthusiastically taking part in the fielding session at the University Ground here.

But in the process, he ended up hurting his right finger so badly that he couldn''t participate in the batting and bowling sessions which were conducted later in the day. More PTI AS PM MRM

Colombo, Sept. 11 -- Saturday's match against Sri Lanka becomes of only academic interest - and of this there is no shortage as India temporarily took the No 1 spot in the ICC ODI rankings. From an aesthetic point of view, though, what is even less edifying is watching quality batsmen struggle and ordinary bowlers sneaking wickets because of the pitch.

In a strangulated ODI where bowlers ruled, India got the better of New Zealand by six wickets, knocked the Kiwis out of the tournament and assured themselves of a place in the final.

Saturday's match against Sri Lanka becomes of only academic interest - and of this there is no shortage as India temporarily took the No 1 spot in the ICC ODI rankings.

India, with 128 points are technically ahead of South Africa, who have 127, but to stay at pole when the rankings are officially announced in a week the men in blue have to ensure they don't lose either of their two matches against Sri Lanka.

In the ICC's complex method of determining points, India receive considerably less points for defeating New Zealand or Sri Lanka than would be the case if the result went the other way, on the basis that India are higher ranked than both.

None of this had any bearing on the play, though, as Daniel Vettori won a crucial toss and watched helplessly as his batsmen fluffed their lines. Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill and Grant Elliott managed to do worse than in their opening game of the tournament, being reduced to 66 for 5 as opposed to Tuesday's 69 for 5.

Ashish Nehra picked up three wickets to take his ODI tally past 100 and Yuvraj Singh winkled out as many with his loopy left-arm spin. In the end, New Zealand managed 155.

Dinesh Karthik was unlucky to be given out lbw to a ball that appeared to strike him high on the pad and be heading down leg. Rahul Dravid's return seemed anything but auspicious as he struggled to get the ball away. After a tortured hour and five minutes that yielded 14 runs from 45 balls, Dravid failed to get bat to an attempted flick and was trapped in front by Jacob Oram.

Sachin Tendulkar (46), who had been largely purring along, working the ball off his toes with elan and piercing the off-side field with controlled cuts, was out to a soft dismissal, presenting Guptill at cover with the simplest of catches.

Yuvraj then sent the ball up in the air and was caught by Guptill. At 84 for 4 India's top-order had done their bit to keep the game alive, but Dhoni (45 not out) and Suresh Raina (35 not out) kept their heads and walked India past the target.

Scoreboard:

New Zealand: B McCullum lbw b Nehra 3, J Ryder lbw b Nehra 0, M Guptill c Dravid b Yuvraj 22, R Taylor c Dhoni b RP 11, G Elliott c Dhoni b Yuvraj 22, J Oram c & b Ishant 24, N Broom c Raina b Yuvraj 21, D Vettori b Ishant 25, K Mills b RP 6, I Butler c Harbhajan b Nehra 6, S Bond not out 10

Extras (lb-4, w-1) 5

Total (all out; 46.3 overs) 155

Fall of wkts: 1-1, 2-4, 3-19, 4-51, 5-66, 6-101, 7-116, 8-134, 9-142, 155.

Bowling: Nehra 8.3-0-24-3, RP Singh 8-2-22-2, Ishant 10-2-26-2, Yuvraj 10-0-31-3, Harbhajan 8-0-39-0, Raina 1-0-4-0, Yusuf 1-0-5-0

India: D Karthik lbw b Mills 4, S Tendulkar c Guptill b Vettori 46, R Dravid lbw b Oram 14, Yuvraj Singh c Guptill b Vettori 8, MS Dhoni not out 35, S Raina not out 45

Extras (lb-3, w-1) 4

Total (for 4 wkts; 40.3 ovs) 156 Bowling: Mills 5.3-1-25-1, Bond 10-3-30-0, Butler 4-0-25-0, Vettori 10-0-33-2, Oram 7-1-19-1, Elliott 2-0-9-0, Guptill 2-0-12-0

London: Cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar can still attract vast crowd in Test matches around the world, Robin Marlar, a former president of Marylebone Cricket Club, said.

"Cricketers like (Sachin) Tendulkar can still attract vast spectators at Test matches," Marlar said while delivering the inaugural Ranji Memorial Lecture at the Nehru Centre here last night.

In his lecture titled "How to Protect, Preserve and Make Prosperous Test Cricket," Marlar was critical of the cricket administrators in India, who he said, were driven by commercial considerations rather than making Test cricket attractive.

"At present they (cricket administrators in India) were driven by financial consideration rather than the spirit of the game," he said.

Describing Ranjisinhji as one of the all-time great batsmen, Marlar said he had a team of coaches and bowlers who honed his cricketing skills.

Marlar also claimed that Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was a "chucker" but he could get away because of the "laws drafted by MCC are not alright.

"Ex-India captain Sunil Gavaskar and his former team-mate Dilip Doshi, former England batsman Mike Brearley, former Pakistan basman Asif Iqbal, chairman of MCC Charles Frey and Zubin Mehta, well-known Indian western music conductor were present on the occasion.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - India left-armers Ashish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh shared six wickets on Friday to take their team to a six wicket win over New Zealand and a place in the Tri-series final against hosts Sri Lanka.

After dismissing New Zealand for 155 from 46.3 overs, India reached their target in the 41st over.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35 not out) and Suresh Raina (45 not out) shared an unbroken 72-run stand for the fifth wicket after they had lost their first four wickets for 84. Sachin Tendulkar contributed 46 off 55 balls.

New Zealand, who won the toss, failed to find any momentum.

Man-of-the-match Nehra trapped openers Jessie Ryder and Brendon McCullum lbw off successive overs with McCullum's dismissal giving him his 100th wicket in one-day internationals.

After the initial damage had been done by Nehra, the left-arm spin of Yuvraj crippled the New Zealand middle order. Yuvraj ended with figures of three for 31 and Nehra with three for 24.

India will play Sri Lanka in their second match on Saturday in what will be a dress rehearsal for Monday's final.