NEW DELHI: Zaheer Khan provided India with a much-needed breakthrough as he dismissed Kane Williamson (113) in the post tea session on the first day of first Test at Eden Park in Auckland.

AUCKLAND: For an itinerant international team, the heaviest baggage to lug around is the memory of a crushing defeat. India will surely feel its weight and pain when the first Test begins on Thursday morning, barely five days after being bamboozled by a lowly-ranked outfit; after all, there was hardly any time for them to recover from the 0-4 whipping, let alone make the mental or game-switch from one format to another.

AUCKLAND: New Zealand are quietly confident of being able to exploit the green state of the Eden Park wicket and upset India in the first Test starting in Auckland on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee conferred India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, on cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist CNR Rao in the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday.

DUBAI: India will retain their number two position in the ICC Test team rankings if they win or draw the upcoming two-match series against New Zealand, starting in Auckland on Thursday.

WELLINGTON: Mahendra Singh Dhoni must be sick of winning... the toss; or, at least, of 300-run targets, inexplicable panic attacks, embarrassing collapses, futile fightbacks and numbing defeats.

WELLINGTON: Describing India as the "wobbling world champions", the New Zealand media on Saturday hailed the Black Caps' comprehensive 4-0 win over the visiting side in the just-concluded five-match ODI series.

NEW DELHI: The signs are good at the moment. Doctors have started weaning Michael Schumacher off induced coma and according to a French newspaper, the seven-time F1 champion was 'blinking' during the first stage of brain tests.

KARACHI: Reinstated Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohammad Zaka Ashraf has said that the Indian cricket board offered to play against Pakistan in a bilateral series at a neutral venue if PCB agrees to sign up to the ICC proposal by the Indian, Australian and the English cricket boards.

HYDERABAD: Two swords cannot be placed in one sheath. And two opponents cannot become good friends. Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu may train under one roof and with one coach but it is hard to imagine that they can become good friends.