World Sports

Sunil Gavaskar South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis became the eighth batsman in the history of Test cricket to score 10,000 career runs on the second day of the first Test match against Australia in Johannesburg on February 27, 2009. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was the first batsman ever to achieve this feat. Gavaskar got to the landmark in the penultimate Test match of his career against Pakistan in March 1987 at Ahmedabad. Sunny is now the fifth fastest batsman in terms of innings -- 212 -- to get to 10,000 Test runs. He finished his Test career with 10,122 runs in 214 Test innings (125 matches) at an average of 51.12 with a highest score of 236*. Gavaskar scored 34 centuries and 45 half-centuries in his Test career. Allan Border Former Australian captain Allan Border was important to his team as much for his batting as he was for his leadership skills. Border took over when the Australian cricket team was going through a transition phase, and set the wheels in motion fo...

The 2009 Indian Premier League will now take place in South Africa. Security concerns in India forced organisers to seek an alternative host, with England a possible destination. But IPL boss Lalit Modi opted for South Africa following talks with Cricket South Africa (CSA), ultimately because of the favourable weather conditions. The tournament, which will feature 59 matches across six venues, will start a week later than planned, running from 18 April to 24 May. The opening match will be played in Cape Town, while Johannesburg will stage the final, with Pretoria, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London also venues for matches. "We are very happy to confirm that South Africa will host the 2009 Indian Premier League tournament," said Modi. "The South African public loves Twenty20 cricket and CSA successfully hosted the inaugural ICC World Twenty20. Both these factors weighed heavily in South Africa's favour." CSA chief executive Gerald Majola expressed his delight...

IPL 2009 will kick off at the Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on April 18 while the final will be held at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on May 24 according to the new schedule. The semi-finals meanwhile are to be held on May 22 and 23 in Pretoria and Johannesburg respectively. In a double header on the first day, last year's winners Rajasthan Royals will take on the Bangalore Royal Challengers, Bangalore, while the Mumbai Indians would clash with the first edition's runners-up Chennai Super Kings at Cape Town. In all, the 59 matches will be held in eight cities: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria, East London, Kimberly, Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth. Kingsmead in Durban, which has a large number of South Asians, has been allotted the lion's share of 16 matches while the Centurion Park in Pretoria will host 12 ties. The Wanderers in Johannesburg and Newlands in Cape Town will hold eight matches each, with the latter playing host to four of these on the first two days ...

Tiger Woods came from five strokes behind to overhaul fellow American Sean O'Hair and win his 66th PGA Tour title by a shot at the Arnold Palmer invitational Orlando on Sunday. Playing only his third tournament since returning from reconstructive knee surgery, Woods completed a record sixth victory at Bay Hill Club by dramatically sinking a 16-foot birdie putt on the final hole in fading light. The American world number one, who had been sidelined for eight months following his previous Tour win at the US Open in June, matched his biggest final-round comeback on the circuit. In 2000, he overhauled a five-shot deficit after 54 holes to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Woods finally caught the pacesetting O'Hair with a birdie at the par-four 15th and claimed the outright lead for the first time when his playing partner bogeyed 16 after hitting his approach into water. Although Woods stumbled on 17, where his tee shot ended up under the lip of a greenside bunker, he calmly ro...

The drama surrounding the future of the second Indian Premier League is over. The India government has left BCCI with no option but to shift IPL out of India. England or South Africa will host IPL 2. While it’s disappointing for fans but franchisees aren’t complaining. After all, there is lots at stake for them. We give you reactions from the owners of Rajasthan Royals and Kings’ XI Punjab. Shetty had recently acquired a stake in the Royals while Preity, along with her millionaire beau Ness Wadia owns the Punjab team. Says Preity, “Elections are the number one priority in this country. We want to have this tournament to happen too so this is a good decision as every fan will still get to see it at 4.00 and 8.00 pm. We will follow whatever the BCCI and IPL will ask us to do.” Meanwhile, Shetty had this to say. “I am in London at the moment and the news that we received at the owners conference is disappointing not just for the franchisees but also all the Indian cricket fans, given the ...