India put in a clinical performance with both bat and ball, riding mainly on the back off a maiden ODI century from Shikhar Dhawan to beat South Africa by 26 runs in the opening game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. India's batsmen put in consistent partnerships and finished off well with the bat before the bowlers kept pegging back the South African run chase to secure the all-important victory in their first game of the competition.

India and South Africa squared off for the first game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff in a Group B encounter. Both sides realized the importance of securing an early victory in the competition, as the two skippers MS Dhoni and AB de Villiers walked out to the centre for the toss. South Africa won the flip of the cpin and decided to bowl first on a cloudy day in Cardiff.

The IPL 2013 was widely considered to be a success for the sheer quality of cricket it produced to go with the huge crowds at all venues throughout the competition and the record numbers of viewers on television and online.

There were records broken in all three departments of the T20 game and some great innings, bowling spells and catches which stood out at the end of the competition.

In a match of unexpected twists and turns, West Indian Ravi Rampaul held his nerve as RCB continued to reign supreme at the Chinnaswamy stadium. Just when Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers were in charge, leading Bangalore's chase of 153, they choked towards the fag end of the innings, losing as many as 5 wickets in a space of 4 overs.

At the end of 40 overs there was nothing to separate the two sides. Umesh Yadav, who bagged the prize scalp of Kohli was thrust into the hot seat to bowl the Super over to Chris Gayle and AB de Villers. Whilst, the Viharba speedster did a fine job by muting Gayle's prowess, AB smacked back to back sixes over his favorite mid-wicket area to help the Royal Challengers recover to 15.

Chris Gayle shares a symbiotic relationship with the M.Chinnaswamy stadium like rhythm and flamenco, sixes and Mexican waves. The T20 bulwark blitzed another special to fire Bangalore to the top of the points table(6 points from 3 games) in front of a vociferous home crowd.His 50 ball 85 was embellished with 9 sixes and 4 fours. In the absence of Zaheer Khan, Vinay Kumar and RP Singh, led the RCB bowling (once again), striking 4 times at the fag end of Knight Riders' innings.

After adhering to circumspection in the initial stages of the chase, Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli revved up the machinery with jaw dropping hits. The awesome twosome beheading Ryan McLaren (who replaced Kolkata's bowling spearhead cum mentor, Brett Lee) walloped 22, moments before the fielding restrictions were lifted. A similar fate was cursed upon Pradeep Sangwan too. They carried on their merry way until the wily Laksmipathy Balaji netted Kohli's scalp, thereby ending the resplendent 63 run association.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the first Indian wicketkeeper today to score a double hundred in test cricket, and he did so in rather spectacular fashion, making 206 from just 243 balls to take India into a commanding position at the end of Day 3 of the opening test against Australia. Armed with a 135 run first innings lead, with possibly more to follow, India are in a strong position to push home their advantage and go 1-up in this four match series. Earlier in the day, Virat Kohli's 106 laid the foundation for India's massive score of 515-8, but was completely overshadowed by Dhoni's heroics as the skipper took the game by the scruff of the neck, laying his detractors to rest once and for all.

India made good progress on the third morning of the first test against Australia, taking their score past 250 losing just one wicket in the session. Much to the dismay of the large number of fans who had thronged to Chepauk early on Sunday morning, that wicket was of their hero Sachin Tendulkar, who fell for 81, dragging a Nathan Lyon delivery back onto his stumps.

Finalists Sri Lanka and West Indies contribute a total of five players to the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 men's team of the tournament, which was announced today in Colombo, with Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardena named as captain.

Meanwhile, finalists Australia and England provide nine players to the ICC Women's World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 team of the tournament, with again the losing captain in the final, Charlotte Edwards, selected to lead the team. Edwards was also named yesterday as the women's player of the tournament.

India's Virat Kohli has been named ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year 2012 at the LG ICC Awards in Colombo.

During the performance period, he played 31 ODIs and compiled 1,733 runs at an average of 66.65, including eight centuries and six half-centuries. His highest score, 183, came against Pakistan in the Asia Cup on 18 March 2012.

The independent voting academy of 32 highly credentialed cricket experts put Kohli first, ahead of such talented and in-form players as Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga as well as Kohli's India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.