The two Singhs of Indian cricket - pals since their formative years - stand at the crossroads, gazing at the paths branching out. One leads to newfound success, one to oblivion and another one into the history books. But none of those are labelled. The next one month leading up to the finish of the ICC World Twenty20 will tell who stepped in the right direction - Yuvraj, Harbhajan or better still, both.

If one defeated death, the other knocked out scathing criticism. Neither of them gave up. That was important and counted in the end, as the poster boys of Indian cricket make a grandstand return in Chennai and will travel to Sri Lanka in hopes of setting the field on fire.  The picture was not so rosy six months back, especially for Yuvraj. Everything appeared dark, negative. It was like a photographer in his darkroom, washing the negatives in hopes of pictures full of life.

Andy Murray became the first British man to win a Grand Slam men's singles title in 76 years after defeating Serbia's Novak Djokovic in five gruelling sets in the US Open final.

After losing four Grand Slam finals, the Scotsman at last won a major title by battling it out in blustery conditions at Arthur Ashe Stadium 7-6, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2, here at Flushing Meadows on Monday.

It looked as if Murray had the measure of the windy conditions as he took the first two sets before Djokovic came back roaring to take the next two.

The Briton quickly regained his equanimity in the deciding set and jumped into a 3-0 lead pulling on his reserve stamina by breaking the Serb's serve twice. Then and there the Serb's fight was over and the Briton raced to take the set and the match.

Flamboyant allrounder Shahid Afridi has called on the Pakistanis to support and pray for the success of the national team in the ICC T20 World Cup, to be held later this month in Sri Lanka.

Afridi's appeal came after Australia swamped Pakistan in the third and final T20 International in Dubai on Monday, raising questions over whether the team was prepared for the World Cup.

Pakistan suffered their heaviest defeat in a T20 match to dampen spirits after a nail-biting win in the second match last Friday.

"It is disappointing that we couldn't complete a clean sweep of the T20 series today but we need to now focus on the World Cup," Afridi told Pakistani media in Dubai.

Istanbul: Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta won a silver by pocketing seven points out of nine games while Tania Sachdev turned out to be the best woman performer for India with a bronze medal in the Chess Olympiad that concluded here on Sunday.

The Indian women team dished out its best-ever performance with a fourth-place finish after defeating France 2.5-1.5 in the final round.

D Harika and Soumya Swaminathan won on the first and fourth board while Tania played out a draw on the second to ensure an Indian victory by a minimal margin even as Mary Ann Gomes suffered a reversal.
Chess Olympiad: Abhijeet bags silver, Tania bronze

Nic Bills, the rookie-contracted New South Wales fast bowler, will face further disciplinary action from his state after being arrested on a drink driving charge.

On August 17, a Friday night, Bills gave a blood alcohol reading of 0.062 following a random breath test. The legal limit is 0.05.

Known as the 'Speedblitz Blues', the NSW state team has been sponsored by the transport arm of the state government since the 2002-03 season, charged with raising awareness about the perils of speeding and drink driving.

Maria Sharapova refused to lick her wounds after her US Open semi-final loss to Victoria Azarenka, opting instead for the consoling taste of a New York-style vanilla ice cream.
The Russian insists her casual response to failing yet again to make the final of a tournament she last
conquered in 2006 is an indication of a new, mature Maria, one learning to take defeat, as well as victory, in her stride.

"I'm looking forward to checking out the ice cream truck that's around the corner from my hotel. Vanilla with rainbow sprinkles. It has been haunting me," said Sharapova.

"I'm telling the driver, like, 'Get out of here. I can't look at you anymore.' So I'll have time for that."

Sharapova -- whose Grand Slam title haul remains at four from wins at Wimbledon in 2004, New York two years later, the Australian Open in 2008 and this year's French Open -- believes her new, easy-come, easy-go attitude is a legacy of her battles with a career-threatening shoulder injury.

At half past 11, just as the players trickled into the dressing room after a warm-up game of football, Yuvraj Singh held Harbhajan Singh’s legs in jest. Bhajji raised his hand as if to bless his team mate. Cameras caught the act of bonhomie and the two walked away laughing. Moments later,

Bhajji looked at the stands and said, “aap sab ko aashirwaad. Sau saal jiyo (Bless you all, live for a hundred years).”

Yuvraj shouted, “Marna bhi chaaho gey to nahin maroge. (Even if you want to die, you won’t).” Although it was in a lighter vein, it didn’t evoke laughter from the handful of people, who were looking at someone who’d just won a fight to live.

Tendulkar, 39, was clean bowled three times out of three in the just-concluded two Test-series between India and New Zealand, triggering a spate of negative comments. Even Manjrekar and Sunil Gavaskar, who were doing television commentary when Tendulkar was bowled in the first innings of the second Test, questioned his lack of foot movement.

Now, Manjrekar says Tendulkar still adds value to the batting line-up and must be part of the team in the four-Test series against England at home.

Also a Mumbaikar like Tendukar, Manjrekar argued that the maestro was not first one to have struggled with full-length deliveries.

Leander Paes put himself in contention for a third US Open men's doubles title after the Indian and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek entered the final following their rivals' injury-forced exit from the semifinals here.

Fifth seeds Paes and Stepanek were tied 5-5 in the first set when their sixth-seeded rivals Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain retired due to injury.

The match was halted when Lopez received a lengthy medical timeout due to a calf injury. Two games later, Lopez gestured that he would be unable to continue before limping off the court.

 Barely four years after his retirement from international cricket, former player Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday expressed his desire to wear the India Blues once again. The former India captain, once an advocate of foreign coaches, indicated that he was not averse to coaching the Indian team in the near future.