MELBOURNE: With an Australian cricket team in upheaval, India might have their best chance in decades to end an unwelcome streak Down Under - they have never won a Test series since they began touring here 64 years ago....

New Delhi: The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has imposed a one-year ban on the women's 400 metres relay team comprising six Indian athletes for taking illegal drugs.

The ban will get over before the 2012 London Olympics, said Anish Dayal, the lawyer representing the athletes....

Mardin, Turkey: Grandmaster Koneru Humpy maintained her all-win record as the Indian girls blanked Vietnam 4-0 to maintain the sole second position after the end of the fifth round of the World Women Team Chess Championship on Friday.

With four rounds still to go, China continued to lead the table with 10 match points and the Indians are just one point behind....

Chennai: Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes will partner Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic in the doubles competition of the Aircel Chennai Open, starting on January 2.

Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had won the 2011 edition but they parted ways yet again and have preferred to play with younger partners....

An economics researcher claims to have found an answer to one of the biggest debates in international cricket by picking Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar as the greatest Test batsman ever over late Australian legend Sir Donald Bradman.

Sydney: India are desperate to bury their unwanted tag of being poor travellers as they bid to win their first series in Australia starting on Monday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The Indians, ranked second in Test cricket, two places above Australia, have failed to win a series Down Under in nine previous tours over 64 years but face a home team in the throes of a painful transition...

MELBOURNE: Australian spin legend Shane Warne has little doubt that Sachin Tendulkar would get his 100th international century on the present tour Down Under, but he wished the iconic Indian batsman to reach the feat in the first cricket Test starting December 26.....

India, even if you won't hear them say it, have never had a better chance of clinching their first Test series triumph in Australia than over the next month against a host nation in the turmoil of transition.

Shaun Marsh is confident he will be fit for the Boxing Day Test after pulling up well from his net sessions over the past two days in Melbourne. Marsh will play for the Perth Scorchers in Thursday night's Big Bash League match against the Melbourne Renegades at the Docklands Stadium and he believes if he makes it through without a problem, he will be fit for the first Test against India...

New Delhi: Hockey India (HI) Wednesday requested the sports ministry to confer legendary Dhyan Chand with the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in the country.

HI in a statement said it has requested sports minister Ajay Maken to consider the late Dhyan Chand for the prestigious award.....