Yuvraj looks to cement Test spot

Batting mainstay Yuvraj Singh said he is eyeing a return to the Indian Test squad with a good all-round display in the upcoming in the West Indies.Yu

"I am looking forward to cement my place in the Test side, especially after doing well in the 50-over format," said Yuvraj, who was the Man of the Tournament in the recently concluded ICC World Cup.

The 29-year-old left-hander said the tour was a good opportunity to blood some young fast bowlers in the absence of seniors such as Zaheer Khan, who has been rested and Ashish Nehra, who is out with an injury.

"There will be inexperience in the bowling attack if Zaheer is not going. Ashish is injured, but then how do you develop your young fast bowlers. We have to give them exposure. I am sure the young guys going in will be eager to perform their best," he said.

To a query, Yuvraj said, "Tiredness is there, but the three tours (West Indies, England and Australia) are very important. And if you win overseas, it gives you a lot of confidence."

On the appointment of opener Gautam Gambhir as skipper of the Indian ODI and T20 squad in the absence of the rested captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj said, "He's certainly proved himself. He is a very good captain. He has led us to a 5-0 win against New Zealand."

Stoner sets the pace at Le Mans

Casey Stoner set the pace in Saturday's free practice sessions for Sunday's French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

The Repsol Honda rider broke the circuit record this morning and this afternoon went even quicker, his best lap of one minute 33.782 seconds good enough to hand him an advantage of more than fourth tenths of a second over Marco Simoncelli (Honda Gresini).

Simoncelli's performance for the satellite Honda team saw him outpace factory rider Dani Pedrosa, who had to settle for third place, nearly seven-tenths down on team-mate Stoner.

Nicky Hayden finished as the fastest of the Ducati riders in fourth place, while MotoGP series leader Jorge Lorenzo was down in fifth place, nearly a second off the quickest time, on the factory Yamaha.

The third factory Honda of Andrea Dovizioso was sixth, ahead of Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3) and Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda).

Hayden's factory Ducati team-mate Valentino Rossi, who has struggled for pace at the start of the new season, again looked laboured as he finished down in ninth place, while Ben Spies was 10th on the second factory Yamaha.

Nadal preserves number one ranking

Rafael Nadal will retain the world number one spot for the French Open after reaching the semi-finals of the Rome Masters with a 6-1 6-3 win over Marin Cilic.

The Spaniard had been suffering with a fever earlier this week but looked in much better shape as he broke serve in the second and fourth games on his way to claiming the opening set in just 38 minutes.

Two further breaks of serve followed in the second set as Croatian Cilic was simply overwhelmed.

"I feel much better," Nadal, a five-time champion at the tournament, said on the ATP website.

"I think I started the match with a greater intensity and so I was able to move faster and to play more aggressive with the legs and if I play more aggressive with the legs then the shots are automatically more aggressive."

He will face Richard Gasquet in the last four after the Frenchman came from a set down to beat seventh seed Tomas Berdych 4-6 6-2 6-4.

Gasquet, 24, had knocked Roger Federer out in the previous round and responded well to losing the first set by securing two breaks to hit back in the second.

He missed an early chance to break again in the decider but was more decisive in the seventh game to set up the win.

Andy Murray battled from a set down to beat Florian Mayer and become the first Briton to make the semi-finals in Rome in the open era.

Murray was brushed aside by his German opponent in the opening set but gradually found a foothold before upping his game to secure a 1-6 6-1 6-1 triumph.

Murray will now meet world number two Novak Djokovic, who powered past him in the Australian Open final, after the Serbian racked up his 37th straight victory with a powerful 6-3 6-0 win over Robin Soderling.

Soderling battled gamely in the opener but Djokovic claimed two crucial breaks to take it, and he then steamrollered his opponent in the second, converting three of five break-point opportunities.

In the women's draw top seed Caroline Wozniacki edged out Jelena Jankovic 6-3 1-6 6-3 to reach the last four.

The deciding set astonishingly started with seven consecutive breaks, and it was the Dane's ability to hold her serve to go 5-3 up that ultimately proved critical.

Wozniacki will now face Maria Sharapova after Victoria Azarenka was forced to retire hurt while leading 6-4 0-3 in their last-eight tussle.

The other semi sees Li Na, a comfortable 6-3 6-1 winner over Greta Arn, face last year's French Open finalist Sam Stosur.

The Australian saw off Roland Garros champion Francesca Schiavone 6-2 6-4.

Gautam Gambhir to lead young team to West Indies

Mumbai: Gautam Gambhir has been named captain of India's limited-overs squad which will tour the West Indies to play five ODIs and one T20 beginning June 4.

Captain MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan have been rested. Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla are the two players from India's World Cup-winning squad to be axed.

Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma, Subramaniam Badrinath, R Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra and Wriddhiman Saha are returning to the squad. Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma, who were left out of the World Cup due to injury and poor form respectively, have also returned.

Virender Sehwag has been left out of the team due to a shoulder injury, while Ashish Nehra is recovering from surgery post a finger injury.

There were other youngsters in running for an India cap. Ambati Rayudu and Paul Valthaty have matched Tendulkar run-for-run this IPL season. Left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla has taken 13 wickets, as has Sreesanth Aravind, Bangalore's new pace find. Pune's Rahul Sharma too has caused a stir with his quick leg-breaks.

However, the selection committee has wisely chosen those who've also performed consistently well in the traditional formats of the game.

Badrinath's fantastic show in the IPL has earned him a recall to the ODI squad after nearly three years. He has made 349 runs in nine innings at an average of 87.25 -- a phenomenal number for T20 cricket.

Pacer R Vinay Kumar, who dropped off India's radar after a fruitless tour of Zimbabwe last year, has also made a comeback after a decent show at the IPL, where he has 12 wickets in 11 games and has started bowling a Lasith Malinga-like round-arm delivery.

Leg-spinner Mishra comes in for Chawla, who had a disastrous run in the World Cup after being suddenly pushed into the ODI squad after a nearly three-year-long gap.

Chawla's form troubles have continued in the IPL where he's picked up just eight wickets in eight games, at an economy rate of 8.88. Mishra has a relatively better show of 12 wickets in 11 games at an economy of 7.37.

Praveen has been a regular fixture of the Indian ODI team but had to give up his World Cup squad to Sreesanth due to an elbow injury.

Ishant has had one great game in the IPL where he took 5-12 against Kochi Tuskers, but has done little of note in the other games.

Squad: G Gambhir (C), S Raina, P Patel (wk), V Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, S Badrinath, R Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, I Sharma, M Patel, V Kumar, Y Pathan, A Mishra, W Saha.

Nervy Barcelona secure yet another title

​Madrid: Barcelona drew 1-1 draw at Levante Wednesday to seal their third consecutive La Liga title and the 21st in the club's history.

Barca have 92 points with two matches left, six ahead of second-placed Real Madrid who beat Getafe 4-0 Tuesday, and Pep Guardiola's side hold the advantage in games between the two sides.

Man City earn first Champions League tilt

Seydou Keita headed the visitors in front after 28 minutes but a terrible mix-up between defender Gerard Pique and keeper Victor Valdes led to Felipe Caicedo equalising just before halftime.

A far from comfortable Barca held on for a point and can now focus on the Champions League final against Manchester United at Wembley on May 28.

"This isn't about today, it is about nine months of hard work, emotions and suffering. We deserved it today," striker David Villa told Spanish radio as he basked in his first league triumph.

"You can see how pleased we all are, above all because of all the work we have done."

Winning the title at the Ciutat de Valencia was particularly significant as it was where former coach Frank Rijkaard landed his first crown with Barca in 2005.

A 1-1 draw at Levante ended six trophyless years for the club that season and set in motion a cycle of success which Guardiola built on when he replaced the Dutchman in 2008.

Barca have now won five of the last seven Spanish championships.

The 40-year-old Guardiola, in his first top-flight coaching role, has picked up nine trophies in three years including three league titles, one European Cup and one King's Cup.

There was also high drama at the bottom of the standings, where 19th-placed Hercules (34 points) let slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home Real Mallorca and were relegated.

Real Zaragoza occupy the last relegation slot in 18th with 39 points, one behind Getafe and safety, after conceding a last-minute goal to lose 2-1 at Real Sociedad.

Osasuna pulled off a thrilling comeback to beat Sevilla 3-2 with breakaway goals from Kike Sola and Dejan Lekic in the last five minutes and they climbed to 14th on 44 points.

Valencia's 2-2 draw with Espanyol and Villarreal's 0-0 draw with Almeria meant there was no change in the race for the European places.

Valencia are third with 67 points and Villarreal fourth with 62 in the Champions League qualification spots, while Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla and Atletico Madrid occupy the three Europa League slots after all three lost.

Barca dominated a cagey opening quarter until Xavi saw Keita's run from deep and flighted a long pass into his path. The Malian midfielder brushed off two defenders to power a header into the net.

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Guardiola was not happy with his side and could be seen gesticulating on the touchline. He held his head in his hands when the defence gifted Levante the equaliser.

Pique tried to shield a ball back to Valdes under pressure from Caicedo and misjudged an attempted clearance as the Levante striker surged past him to score into the empty net.

After the restart Lionel Messi conjured one of his seemingly impossible runs as he twisted and turned through a crowd of Levante defenders but with only the keeper to beat his shot hit the post.

As the minutes ticked down Barca's substitutes lined up arm in arm on the touchline while their colleagues kept possession and when the referee blew for time they all raced on to the pitch to celebrate in a huddle.

Pakistan slump against debutant Bishoo's spin

Guyana: Leg spinner Devendra Bishoo claimed four wickets on his debut to help West Indies skittle Pakistan for 160 on the second day of the first Test on Friday.

Some of Bishoo's excellent work was undone though when the home team slumped to 34 for two in their second inn

ings at the close, a lead of 100 runs.

Scorecard

Devon Smith, whose place is likely to be questioned again, fell to Mohammad Hafeez's spin when the opener was trapped lbw for one playing a feeble stroke.

Pakistan then struck again when left-hander Darren Bravo was trapped leg before for eight by Saeed Ajmal.

Earlier, the Guyanese crowd were cheered by the exploits of the local spinner.

Bishoo picked up his maiden Test wicket when he trapped Misbah-ul-Haq lbw for two with a flipper, a delivery that highlighted his diverse repertoire.

Asad Shafiq also went leg before to Bishoo for two, after a West Indies review, and Mohammed Salman was dismissed for four in similar fashion following a straight ball from the spinner.

Captain Darren Sammy chipped in with two wickets as West Indies,

who were bowled out for 226 in their first innings at the start of the day, put the tourists under pressure.

The 25-year-old Bishoo, composed, confident and showing no sign of nerves, struck again when he had Umar Akmal caught behind for 33 as he finished with four for 68 from 25 overs.

Pakistan's total would have been even worse but for an unbeaten 40 by Abdur Rehman.

Seamer Ravi Rampaul also returned figures of three for 27 to cap a good all-round performance in the field from West Indies.

Now they need a big innings from their batting hope -- Lendl Simmons (18 not out) -- and some of the stability in the middle order that has been missing in recent performances.

But Pakistan also have plenty of spin options and will fancy their chances of dismissing the hosts cheaply to set themselves an achievable target.