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Even if the first match of the league -- Bangalore Royal Challengers versus Kolkata Knight Riders -- fizzled into a no-contest in the second innings, the rousing pyrotechnics from Kolkata opener Brendon McCullum grabbed enough eyeballs among television viewers across the country to prove that IPL, in the end, was about cricket and it is on-field action that's going to make or break it.

This was a day Bangaloreans weren't going to miss. Though, in the end, they watched in dread as the home team collapsed under the weight of McCullum's awesome, unbeaten innings of 158. Bangalore lost by 140 runs, falling for 82 in reply to the daunting 222 put up by the Kolkatans.

Kiwi Stumper Blasts A Record Unbeaten 158 Off 73 Balls As Team Kolkata Dwarfs Bangalore

Precisely at 8 p.m. on Friday night, the cricket world woke up to a new reality with the Indian Premier League getting off to a rousing start. A host of artists descended from the rooftop as part of the colourful opening ceremony but once the game started, it was mostly about Brendon McCullum gaining ascendancy in several attempts to hit the same high roof at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Whether the tournament opener was history in the making or not, the Kiwi opener seemed bent on disproving the scientific fact that Kiwis cannot fly as he sent the ball soaring to all parts of the ground and well over it. Kolkata Knight Rider's own set of cheerleaders on the

boundary edge, as also team boss Shah Rukh Khan from within the pavilion stands, were given almost no break between their hip-shaking routines as, instead of the skies opening up as some weather pundits had predicted, it was McCullum who opened up and how!

As many as 10 fours and 13 sixes -- the most maximum hits in a T20 game -- rained off his bat as he raced to the highest score in a T20 first-class fixture. His unbeaten 158 (whew! that's some score) came off a mere 73 balls and took the Knight Riders to an imposing 222 for 3 in their 20-over innings.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Naresh Kumar, who had led the delegation, said that on being urged to open a cricket academy in Delhi "dehat", Mr. Pawar said he would take up the matter soon.

According to Dr. Kumar, Mr. Pawar told the delegation that such an academy should have an equal financial participation of BCCI and the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association.

He also said that the Board would approve of the matter as soon as a proposal in this regard comes from DDCA.

The delegation had also demanded that the Board recommend the name of Virendra Sehwag for Padma Bhushan as he was the only player from the country and only the third in the world after Sir Don Bradman and Brian Lara to have scored two triple centuries in Test cricket.

Ricky Ponting and his men will arrive in India on September 29 and will play a four-day practice match from October 2 to 5, the venue for which is yet to be decided.

The team will take a three-day break before starting the series in Bangalore from October 9.

The second Test will be played three days later in Mohali before the action comes to the capital. Delhi will play host to the third Test starting October 28. The fourth and final Test of the series will be played from November 5 in Nagpur.

The schedule:

• Four-day practice match: October 2 to 5

• First Test (Bangalore): October 9 to 13

• Second Test (Mohali): October 17 to 21

• Third Test (New Delhi): October 28 to November 1

• Fourth Test (Nagpur): November 5 to 9.

Sehwag finished unbeaten on 309 as India reached 468 for one in reply to South Africa's first innings 540 all out at the close on the third day.

The 29-year-old, who also made 309 against Pakistan at Multan in 2004, became only the third player to achieve the feat of two triple 100s, matching Australian Don Bradman and West Indies batsman Brian Lara.

It was the fastest triple hundred in Test cricket since the scorers began recording number of balls faced by a batsman.

Sehwag raced to 300 off 278 balls in the final session, surpassing Australian Matthew Hayden's 362-ball effort when he scored a then world record 380 against Zimbabwe at Perth in 2003-04.

The Indian batsman lashed 42 fours and five sixes to race to his triple hundred, nudging paceman Makhaya Ntini for a single to square-leg.

McKenzie missed out on his fourth hundred before the tourists reached 304 for four at close at the start of the three-match series.

The 32-year-old put on a brisk 132-run opening partnership with skipper Graeme Smith, who stroked 73, before number three Hashim Amla guided the innings after skipper Anil Kumble and fellow spinner Harbhajan Singh struck twice each.

Amla was 85 not out, eyeing his fourth hundred, with AB de Villiers on 10 at stumps.

Smith and McKenzie, fresh from compiling a test world record 415-run opening partnership in the final test in Bangladesh this month, took charge to steer the team to 109 for no loss at lunch.

South Africa were cruising at 206 for two at tea before Harbhajan removed key all rounder Jacques Kallis (13) and the 37-year-old Kumble took a stunning one-handed return catch diving to his left to dismiss Ashwell Prince (23).

Kumble took two for 61 and Harbhajan returned two for 92.

Meanwhile, India are all set to finish runners-up to Ricky Ponting's team in the Test standings at the cut-off date of April 1 and earn $75,000 for this achievement.

India is ranked fourth with 113 points in the ODI table.

South Africa gained 0.720 points from their series victory over Bangladesh and although it stayed on 127 ratings points along with Australia, the fraction of a point was enough to put it ahead of Ponting's men by 0.191 of a point.

South Africa's achievement is significant because the sides that lead the Test and ODI Championship ladders on April 1, receives $175,000 for its achievement, while the side placed second collects $75,000.

Last year too, South Africa had snatched the title just before the April 1 cut-off date, relegating Australia to second position.

In the Test championship table, India are sure of finishing second after England blew their chance of leapfrogging Anil Kumble's side by losing the first Test to New Zealand in Hamilton.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) regards the multi-million-dollar IPL, promoted by the Indian board and featuring top stars from around the world, as a domestic Indian competition, a spokesman said.

"The IPL is not international cricket, it is a domestic tournament," ICC spokesman James Fitzgerald told AFP when asked if players' performances will gain official recognition.

"Therefore, the matches do not have Twenty20 international status."

The IPL is a city-based tournament with eight teams bought by franchises who selected their respective line-ups via auction in Mumbai last month.

The tournament, which runs from April 18 to June 1, will mark the first time international cricketers will put aside their national allegiances to play for privately-owned teams.

Players have received huge pay packets, starting from 100,000 dollars for the first year, to take part in the 44-day, 59-match extravaganza across cricket-mad India.

In a sport where only a few top stars net more than a million dollars a year in fees and endorsements for their respective countries, the IPL has showered unprecedented riches.

Dhoni and his men have probably accomplished even more. They may have signalled an impending change in the world cricketing order, while wrecking the aura of Australian invincibility. India has long had the financial clout. But now, with cricketing muscle lending that support, the power equations in the game seem to be shifting.

In 1995, Australia had beaten the West Indies in the Caribbean to mark the ending of an era, and the beginning of another. After Tuesday, Australia may remain No. 1 in the ICC rankings, but it increasingly resembles an ageing bull elephant facing a younger, aggressive challenger, who senses that the leader is past his prime.

That challenger is, of course, Team India -- which shrugged off all the trauma of a bitter, ill-tempered tour to hold off Australia by a nailbiting nine-run margin. The young Indians sprinted singles, dived on the field to save precious runs and held their nerve even as the Australians, supposedly masters at handling crunch situations, disintegrated mentally. Throughout, they went sledge for sledge, eyeball to eyeball, till the Aussies blinked.

In the process, Dhoni's insistence on bringing fresh legs, and young bravehearts, into the ODI squad was thoroughly vindicated. It was a huge gamble, but it succeeded, enhancing Dhoni's skyrocketing stature. He spoke later of how this was an important step in the building of ``my team''. Clearly, he's no shrinking violet. Neither are his men. But then, shrinking violets don't beat world champs on home turf.

Everyone may not like the bold new face of Team India -- indeed, some may find it abrasive. There is some truth to that, but perhaps it is precisely this cockiness that allows these youngsters to play their natural game, unfazed by the towering reputations of the other side. They expect to win -- and do so.

Having batted poorly and fielded sloppily, India still somehow trumped South Africa, winning a rain-hit final by 12 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Under the leadership of Virat Kohli, India won the junior world cup for the second time. They had last won it in 2000 under the captaincy of Mohammad Kaif.

India had been bowled out for 159 having been asked to bat. But their seam bowlers responded promptly to leave South Africa stuttering at 17-3 in the ninth over.

That's when the rain came down. After a prolonged delay, the innings was reduced to 25 overs, the target revised to 116. It meant South Africa needed 99 from 98 balls to win the World Cup.  

In a gripping climax, South Africa needed 19 from the last over by seam bowler Siddarth Kaul.

Kaul gave away a four off the first ball, but tightened the screws and took India home.

India were also the finalists in 2006, where they failed to chase Pakistan's 109 in the final in Colombo.

Earlier, India's innings failed to get going as they lost wickets at regular intervals. The batsmen, who had been in fine form throughout the tournament, chose an inopportune moment to go out of form.

Tanmay Srivastava scored 46 but the others failed to build on starts. The next highest was 20. For South Africa, the wickets were shared around.

India, while fielding, dropped two catches. Wicketkeeper Srivats Goswami, who has had a good tournament thus far, missed three stumpings with pressure mounting on both sides.

With Tendulkar making an unbeaten 117 from 120 balls and youngster Rohit Sharma offering wonderful support, India made 242 for six in 45.5 overs in reply to the home side's 239 for eight. This gives the visitors a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three finals.

Tendulkar shared in a 123-run stand for the fourth wicket with Rohit Sharma, who went for 66 immediately after the former completed his ton.

The master blaster brought up his hundred with an easy single off James Hopes, having faced only 106 deliveries and hit eight boundaries.

The Australians were always in trouble after they had to settle for a modest total following a batting collapse.

Earlier, Australia scored 239 for 8 in 50 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat.

Mathew Hayden looked like a man on a mission after his war of words with Harbhajan Singh in the days before the first of the best-of-three finals.

Andrew Symonds and Mathew Hayden struck a 100-run partnership for the fourth wicket in just 17.2 overs, but Symonds' dismissal gave the much-needed respite to the Indians.

The 34-year-old quit One-Day Internationals after last year's World Cup and is now giving up Tests to focus on his family and business interests.

"I always indicated that I was likely to retire from international cricket at some point in the near future and the time is right for me and my family to do that now," Fleming said.

"Retiring before the (return) tour to England (later this year) will allow me to be with (wife) Kelly for the birth of our second child and I'm excited about pursuing new business opportunities."

Put into bat, India rattled up 195 for five in the allotted 29 overs after play began late due to rain but the islanders overhauled a revised target of 154 in 21 overs with 12 balls to spare.

The Sri Lankans took full advantage of batting second as they chased the revised target without much fuss to keep themselves afloat in the series, riding on contributions from Tillakaratne Dilshan (62 not out) and Sanath Jayasuriya (27 off 13 balls).

Young Rohit Sharma gave ample display of his class with an unbeaten 70 while Gautam Gambhir [Images] (35) Sachin Tendulkar [Images] (32) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] (31) came up with useful contributions but all their efforts went in vain as another rain interruption immediately after the Indian innings made the equation under the Duckworth-Lewis method easier for the Lankans.

With this victory, Sri Lanka managed to keep themselves in the reckoning by taking their points tally to six from three matches.

India continued to maintain their position at the top of the table with eight points from four matches while Australia have seven points from three matches.

The action will now shift to Perth where Sri Lanka will take on Australia in a day-night encounter on Friday.

Harbhajan Singh, however, sounded cautious, saying, ``We don't believe too much in what is termed as momentum and we also don't look at the past record of our opponents. On a given day any team can come good in One-day cricket.''

Feeling tired and fighting a stomach ache, the beanpole like bowler answered questions from the media soon after India's ecstatic win over Australia with all his innocence.

``Yes, I do wonder at my achievement but at the same time I feel that if you have faith in your hard work, God helps you,'' said the exhausted bowler.

Talking about his heroics (4-38) on Sunday night at the MCG, Ishant said, ``I'm not doing anything extra. Just sticking to the plan we have for each of the batsmen. We all have to bowl a good line and that's what even I do.''

Asked to bowl with the new ball, Ishant added that it wasn't a big issue. ``There was no pressure to bowl with the new ball. When the captain has confidence in you and when he gives you the new ball, there is a job to be done. I was just told to do my best, bowl a good line and leave the rest to the batsman.'' But it was not all hunky dory for the bowler. Ishant was smacked for 18 runs in his very second over but he showed resilience in making a comeback.