India lost U-19 Cricket World Cup

Defending champions India crumbled under pressure in the battle of sub-continental rivals as Pakistan won the match in a thrilling rain-hit Super League quarter-final of the ICC Under-19 World Cup on Saturday.

Pakistan opted to bowl first in the match, which became a 23-overs-a-side affair due to overnight rain, and skittled out India for a paltry 114/9.

In reply, Pakistan reached the target in 22.3 overs. The Pakistani top order collapsed and the team score read 16/3 in just under seven overs. However, Ahsan Ali brought them back into the match with a 45-ball 30 before being run out by Jaydev Unadkat.

Wickets tumbled at regular intervals but Pakistan kept themselves in the hunt with some brisk scoring.

Rameez Aziz (28) and Hammad Azam (21 not out) turned out to be the heroes for Pakistan as they found the boundaries and sixes when it mattered the most in a cliffhanger of a match.

Earlier, put in to bat, Indian innings was off to a disastrous start as they lost Rahul Kannaur off the very first ball of the match when Pakistan's wrecker-in-chief Fayyaz Butt castled him.

Butt returned figures of 4/27 in his four overs and his effort was well complemented by left-arm spinner Raza Hasan, who picked up three wickets, conceding 26 runs in five overs.

The match came in the backdrop of heightened political tensions between the two countries after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The sporting ties between the two countries have also been badly hit by the recent snub to Pakistani cricketers at the third Indian Premier League auction.

Pakistan will now take on the West Indies in the first semifinal on Monday. The West Indies beat England by 18 runs in the other quarterfinal.

Dhoni banned for two ODIs

MS Dhoni, the Indian captain, has been banned for two ODIs because India maintained a slow over-rate during the second match against Sri Lanka in Nagpur, according to television reports. The ban is likely to be effective immediately, which means Dhoni will be unavailable for the games in Cuttack and Kolkata, returning only for the final ODI in Delhi.

The second ODI ended about 45 minutes after the scheduled finish time because of frequent discussions between the Indian players during the closing stages of Sri Lanka's chase. The visitors won the game by three wickets to level the five-match series 1-1. The decision to ban Dhoni was taken by match referee Jeff Crowe.

Sri Lanka were penalised for their slow over-rate during the second Twenty20 international against India in Mohali after falling two overs short of their target. The captain Kumar Sangakkara was fined 40% of his match fee while the rest of the team was docked 20% each. Crowe said Sangakkara just escaped a much bigger penalty.

Virender Sehwag will captain the side in his absence.

Dhoni had been informed of the ban verbally, BCCI vice president Rajiv Shukla confirmed. The rest of the Indian players were fined 40% of their match fee for the offence - 10% each for the first two overs of minor offence and 20% each for every subsequent over.

"We have received information that the match referee has put a two-ODI ban on Dhoni for slow over-rate," Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI's chief administrative officer, said. "We are waiting for a formal communication on this. We will look into details and then make further comments."

India now No.1 team in Test Cricket

India became the number one team in Test rankings after they spanked Sri Lanka by an innings and 24 runs in the third and final Test, on Sunday, to clinch the three-match series by a 2-0 margin.

Needing just four wickets to record an emphatic victory, the hosts took just about 40 minutes to polish off the visiting team's tail to record their second consecutive innings victory.

The victory has given India three points in the ICC rankings, taking their overall tally to 122 and leaving them ahead of South Africa and Sri Lanka in the ICC table.

The match would be best remembered for the blazing 293-run knock that Virender Sehwag played. The right-hander, however, missed out on becoming the first batsman in the game's history to score three triple tons.

It was the second successive innings victory for India following their resounding win by an innings and 144 runs in the second Test at Kanpur. The first Test at Ahmedabad was drawn.

It was also India's 101st Test win and their fifth at this venue in 18 matches.

Quotes from the post-match ceremony:

Sangakkara: It was tough but India outperformed us in all three departments of the game in the last two Tests. In this game, we nearly put 400 but Sehwag came and took the game away from us. The guys fought hard through this series but it was not enough. The batting of Dilshan, Prasana, Samaraweera, how Welegedera came through in the first Test .. were the positives. Congrats to the Indian team who did well as a unit; someone always stepped up to perform.

Man of the Match and Man of the Series is Sehwag: This will be the third best of my knocks. I wasn't thinking anything, my mind was very blank; I waited for a while . I just waited for the bad balls. The dressing room they were saying I was hitting the good balls too but when you look at from my point of view, I was just hitting the bad balls..! After the first Test, I had a very good chat with Kirsten. He told me just carry on the process that you applied in Sri Lanka and in New Zealand, you will come good for a long knock. This (no 1) is a team effort.

MS Dhoni: I think the real tough task from now on is to maintain this performance. THe real tough job starts from here. When we are pushed to the wall, we come out with some special performances. Overall I think it was a terrific team performance in this series. Every batsman, who got in, in this match did his job. Especially Virender Sehwag. We had a big total and could put pressure with close-in fielders. Zaheer is back in the rhythm and it was good to see the fast bowlers do well in India. There was a bit of reverse swing but not much help to them but they have bowled very well. Our fielding was good. I think we caught nearly everything that came our way."