Zaheer, Tendulkar rested for West Indies tour

India's cricket selectors on Wednesday rested key players Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan for the limited-overs tour of West Indies starting later this month.
Tendulkar, the world's most prolific Test and one-day batsman, is recovering from a finger injury that he aggravated during the Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa last month.
Bowling spearhead Zaheer was rested as he was suffering from a shoulder injury, the selectors said in a media release.
Left-handed batsman Suresh Raina was also not considered for selection after he sustained a hairline fracture on his thumb.
"Raina been advised two weeks' rest," the release said.
Left-arm quick Ashish Nehra returned to the squad after four years on the sidelines, thanks to his impressive show in the IPL where he picked up 19 wickets for the Delhi Daredevils.
All-rounder Abhishek Nayar earned his maiden call-up to the Indian squad while opener Murali Vijay also made a comeback in the absence of the injured Virender Sehwag.
Sehwag missed the World Twenty20 in England with a shoulder injury.
India, who won the inaugural T20 Worlds in South Africa two years ago, lost both their Super Eight matches to the West Indies and hosts England to be knocked out before the semi-finals.
The Indians have been on the road since February, sparking fears of player burnout and a growing list of injured players.

India's squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Yuvraj Singh (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Vijay, Subramaniam Badrinath, Abhishek Nayar, Dinesh Karthik, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha, Ashish Nehra.

Coach: Gary Kirsten (RSA)

India' schedule in West Indies:

June 26: First one-dayer, Jamaica

June 28: Second one-dayer, Jamaica

July 3: Third one-dayer, St. Lucia

July 5: Fourth one-dayer, St. Lucia

Warne's Rajasthan clinch a last-over thriller

Munaf Patel bowled a tight last over under pressure as Rajasthan Royals posted a thrilling two-run victory over Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match here on Thursday.
Mumbai needed four runs in the final over to achieve a 146-run target, but seamer Patel conceded just one to boost Rajasthan's chances of making it to the semi-finals.
Three wickets fell in the last over, including two run-outs.
Skipper Sachin Tendulkar hit a solid 40 off 30 deliveries and Abhishek Nayar an 18-ball 35 to raise Mumbai's hopes of victory following man-of-the-match Shane Warne's triple-strike, but Rajasthan hit back in the closing over.
Former Australian leg-spinner Warne finished with 3-24.
Mumbai's hopes rested on Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya (16), specialist openers batting in the middle order, after three wickets had fallen for 23 runs but skipper Warne removed both the batsmen at the right time.
Delhi lead the eight-team tournament with 16 points from 10 matches, followed by Chennai (13/11), Rajasthan (13/12), Deccan (12/11), Bangalore (12/12), Mumbai (11/12), Punjab (10/11) and Kolkata (3/11).
The top four sides advance to the semi-finals.
Australian opener Rob Quiney and Indian middle-order batsman Ravinder Jadeja earlier boosted Rajasthan with a 61-run stand for the third wicket off just six overs.
Quiney top-scored with a 40-ball 51 for his maiden half-century of the tournament, while Jadeja scored 42 off 32 balls.

Lack of partnerships hurt us: Tendulkar

Struggling to digest the three-run defeat against Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar said they were done in by the lack of partnerships in their IPL encounter yesterday. Chasing a modest victory target of 120, the Mumbai side finished 116 for seven with only JP Duminy (59) managing to salvage some pride. "After the first half, we thought we are in a good position to win the match but this was one of those games where pressure built up and we lost early wickets. All credit to Kings XI Punjab, they played really well," Tendulkar said. "To chase a target of 120, we needed 35-40 run partnerships. A couple of such partnerships and you are there. But it simply did not happen today and they kept pressure on us all along," he said. Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh, who spend the last few overs outside the ground due to injury, admitted he was nervous and heaped praise on both Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Abdulla who bowled the final two overs. "I was really nervous today," Yuvraj said. "We wanted to bowl Piyush in the 19th over to get the left-hander out. The wicket had turned slow and therefore we used more spinners. Yusuf bowled a very good last over too," he said.

Tendulkar, Jayasuriya win it for Mumbai

Senior pros Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya produced vintage strokeplay to give Mumbai Indians a key victory in the Indian Premier League here on Monday.
The ageing duo hammered 127 for the first wicket from just 12.2 overs as Mumbai scored 187-6 in 20 overs after electing to take first strike and then bowled out Kolkata Knight Riders for 95 in 15.2 overs.
The massive 92-run victory took Mumbai's tally to five points from four matches, putting them in third place behind leaders Deccan Chargers (eight points) and Delhi Daredevils (six).
Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan's Knight Riders were left tottering on three points from five games and needed to win a majority of their remaining nine matches to stay in contention for the semi-finals.
Tendulkar, the world's leading Test and one-day batsman who has voluntarily opted out of India's Twenty20 squad, smashed a brilliant 68 off 45 balls.
The prolific 36-year-old hit six boundaries and four sixes, one of them against Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis that landed outside the St George's Park stadium.
Jayasuriya, who turns 40 in June, hammered 52 off 32 balls with two fours and four sixes as the veterans turned the clock back in a breathtaking display of attacking batting.
Kolkata's chase faltered early when skipper Brendon McCullum was dismissed by Lasith Malinga in the second over and West Indian captain Chris Gayle fell to team-mate Dwayne Bravo in the third.
Brad Hodge (24) and Sourav Ganguly (34) were the chief contributors to Kolkata's meagre total as Lasith Malinga and Abhishek Nayar scalped three wickets each.

Tendulkar leads Mumbai to victory in IPL

Sachin Tendulkar scored 59 runs as he helped Mumbai to 165 for seven

Sachin Tendulkar hit an unbeaten half-century as he led the Mumbai Indians to a 19-run win against the Chennai Super Kings in the opening match of the Indian Premier League at Newlands on Saturday.
Tendulkar's 59 not out provided the foundation for Mumbai's 165 for seven after they were sent in on a blustery, grey day.
Former Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden hit 44 and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni 36 for Chennai but the 2008 runners-up could only manage 146 for seven.
Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga bowled superbly to take three for 15 in four overs for Mumbai.
Mumbai's innings was anchored by Tendulkar, who largely played conventional cricket, punctuated by lofted off-drives.
Although he opened the batting he faced only 48 balls, hitting seven fours.
Tendulkar and Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya (26) put on 39 for the first wicket. He then shared a second wicket stand of 43 with Shikhar Dhawan (22).
Batting conditions were tricky under grey skies and Mumbai were struggling at 102 for four in the 15th over before the left-handed Abhishek Nayar lashed 35 off 14 balls in a fifth wicket stand of 46 with Tendulkar.
Nayar slammed three sixes in an over from Andrew Flintoff which cost 22 runs. Flintoff, who is on a 1.55-million dollar a season contract, was the most expensive Chennai bowler, conceding 44 runs in four overs.
Flintoff made 24 in Chennai's reply as he helped Hayden put on 52 for the third wicket. He hit two fours and a six off 22 balls before he heaved a ball from Harbhajan Singh high in the air for the off-spinner to take a catch off his own bowling.
Hayden hit his 44 off 35 balls before Zaheer Khan took a stinging catch in the cover off a fierce drive against Jayasuriya's left-arm spin. Dhoni hit 36 off 26 balls before being bowled by Malinga in the final over.