Strength: A star-studded batting order that can wreck any bowling attack.

Weakness: The absence of Virender Sehwag in batting and Zaheer’s experience missing too.

Opportunity: After enjoying the No 1 tag for less than twenty four hours, men in blue will be eager to regain the status.

Threat:Fielding has been a concern, and any miss can prove costly in a tight finish

Key players: Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Gambhir

Strength: A new look side should be success hungry though it is highly unlikely, they may surprise a team or two.

Weakness: Lack of experience can be a dampner.

Opportunity: The stage offers the players to justify and cement their place in the side. With no fear of losing they might actually do better than expected at the start.

Threat: Uncertainty and lack of motivation can prove coslty.

Key Players:Reifer, Best and Fletcher

Last Performance: Beaten by Bangladesh in a home series.

Strength: Professional fielding unit, always puts pressure on the opposition.

Weakness: Batting lets them down consistenly.

Opportunity: With Shane Bond and Kyle Mills, the bowling has found strength. Vettori who can attack as well as contain the batsmen, Kiwis would hope to have runs on the board to defend.

Threat: Top order failure leaves too much to be done.

Key Players: Vettori, Shane Bond and Jacob Oram

Last Performance: Outplayed in the Tri series in Sri Lanka.

Strength: The ability to make a match out of anything makes them the champions they have been long known for. After losing the Ashes, they have bounced back in style with a renewed sense of belief. A wounded tiger is more dangerous, and it might be the case this time too.

Weakness: The damaged self belief can play its part in the tough situations.

Opportunity: The win here will reaffirm the supremacy and ensure the Number One position for the kangaroos.

Threat: Inexperience and the lack of the famed bench strength, shows they still miss the old warhorses.

Key players:Ponting, Watson and Lee

Strength: A side full of utility players, they are capable of being the surprise package.

Weakness: The over dependence on the likes of Jayasuriya, Dilshan and Sangakkara exposes the chinks, in case these three fail to fire.

Opportunity: A well knit side can be more than lethal when they get going.

Threat: Batting at times seem to lack teeth upfront which puts undue pressure on the lower ordeer.

Key players: Dilshan, Sangakkara and Muralitharan

Strength: A strong batting and bowling unit puts sides under pressure even while defending meagre totals. Arguably the best fielding side making the oppostion earn their runs.

Weakness: The unerring ability to choke can haunt them.

Opportunity: Playing at home should be motivation enough to clinch an ICC title after 11 years.

Threat: The inability to hold nerve in a tight finish can mar their chances.

Key Players: Smith, de Villiers, and Steyn

Last Performance: Lost in the semifinals of the T20 WC.

Strength: A balanced side on paper, with loads of experience in batting and a healthy bowling attack too.

Weakness: Among the most inconsistent sides in the world, they are capable of losing form the brink of a win.

Opportunity: After mastering the T20 format with the title win in England, thay will look to repeat the show in the ODIs as well.

Threat: Shoddy fielding coupled with inexperienced bowling attack can let them down in crunch situations.

Key Player: Shahid Afridi, Younus Khan and Umar Gul

Strength: The Brits, fathers of the game, play for pride more than anything else and can be a handful.

Weakness: The visible lack of willingness to win at times sums up their various phases of good and bad days.

Opportunity: After beating Australia in the last ODI to avert a historic whitewash, they will look to regain the lost ground, quite literally.

Threat: With a slump in batting, they put too much pressure on the bowling department.

Key Players: Andrew Strauss, Stuart Broad and Collingwood.

Last Performance: Lost seven match series 1-6 to Australia.

New Delhi, September 21
India’s dashing opener Virender Sehwag has decided to step down as Delhi Daredevils captain, making way for Gautam Gambhir who will lead the team in the Champions League next month. Sehwag wanted to concentrate on batting and expressed his desire to step down.

“I would like to thank GMR for their understanding in accepting my request to step down. Personally, I would like to concentrate on my own batting and contribute to the team. Gautam did a great job of captaining Delhi and also during IPL-2 in South Africa this year. He has shown very good leadership skills and will bring fresh energy to Delhi Daredevils,” Sehwag said.

Team owner GMR considered many candidates but found Gambhir to be the most apt leader for the team. Dinesh Karthik has been appointed vice captain. “Viru has been a source of great strength and inspiration to the team. When he expressed a desire to step down in order to fully focus and concentrate on batting, we respected his decision and accepted his request,” said Srinivas Bommidala, chairperson of GMR Sports.

Gambhir said it would be a challenge for him to step into Sehwag’s shoes. “I am delighted at my selection by GMR as captain of Delhi Daredevils and I am committed to deliver my best. I have always looked up to Viru. He has been a guide and friend for me. It is always difficult to fit into the shoes of someone as illustrious as him,” he said.

“I have led Delhi in the past in Ranji Trophy and we won the title. I have also had the opportunity to lead the Delhi Daredevils in IPL-2 when Viru was injured. It was an enriching experience and hopefully I can put into practice all that I have learned. I can always turn to Viru for any advice, as also to the other seniors in the team. We have had great camaraderie on the side and this will help reach greater heights.”

B. Vanchi, director of GMR Sports, was confident that under Gambhir the team would be successful. “We are confident that with Gautam leading the side, and Dinesh Karthik assisting him as the vice captain, Delhi Daredevils will achieve greater success,” he said.

Squad for the Champions League includes: Gautam Gambhir (c), Dinesh Karthik (v/c), Virender Sehwag, AB De Villiers, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Daniel Vettori, Paul Collingwood, Ashish Nehra, Amit Mishra, Dirk Nannes, Owais Shah, Rajat Bhatia, Pradeep Sangwan, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh and Mithun Manhas. — IANS

Paris, September 21
Renault were handed a suspended permanent ban from Formula One on Monday while former team boss Flavio Briatore was barred for life for his role in a race-fixing scandal that has shamed and stunned the sport. The former world champions’ suspended ban will last until the end of the 2011 season, after which they will be in the clear. The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) also banished the team’s former engineering head Pat Symonds for five years for fixing last year’s Singapore Grand Prix by ordering Brazilian Nelson Piquet to crash. Piquet, the 24-year-old driver at the eye of the storm, walked away from the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council hearing unpunished after being given immunity from prosecution in return for testifying.

He said he bitterly regretted his actions, slammed Briatore and hoped another team would give him a second chance. Spanish team mate and double world champion Fernando Alonso, who won the Singapore race after Piquet’s accident forced the deployment of the safety car, was cleared of any involvement.

“I think that we’ve cut out the bad part and things will now go on exactly as they should,” FIA president Max Mosley told reporters after the verdict. — Reuters 

Chandigarh, September 21
Unsurprisingly, the talk of the day wasn’t Korea’s brilliant fight back in the match against Japan, but India’s dismal performance in the Level I competition of the 23 rd FIBA Asia women championship at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.

On Monday, India surrendered to Thailand 67-78, to disappoint the basketball fraternity that had come to watch them play. India is yet to win a match in their pool. India next meet Japan on Tuesday. In today’s match, after trailing in the initially stages of the game, India girls leveled the score 16-each. It gave the impression that they were in no mood to give up. But that ray of hope vanished as the match progressed.

Thailand cagers were good in blocking Indian skipper Geethu Anna Jose, who did bulk of scoring in the match today. Once Geethu who was equally good in rebounds, was closely marked, it had its effect on the scoreboard. As other players in the team weren’t able to convert as expected and frittered way chances that came their way. After the match, India’s team coach Dinesh Mitchelle admitted that the players couldn’t play as per planned.