Live cricket score of India vs Australia 1st Test Match from Bangalore | Watch Cricket Scorecard

Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, believes the pressure on India's "fab four" batsmen will hand Australia an advantage when the Test series begins on Thursday. Sourav Ganguly has already announced he will retire after this series, while Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman are also in the twilight of their careers.

But there is also significant pressure on Australia, who hold the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and have lost only one Test series - the 2005 Ashes - since they last went down to India in 2000-01. Australia also have an unusually unpredictable line-up and have several important selection decisions to make before the first Test starts in Bangalore.

Live cricket score of India vs Australia 1st Test Match from Bangalore

For live scorecard you can view any of the following sites:

http://www.cricketpulse.com/

http://www.cricreporter.com/

--
Global Cricket Platform? Check now at http://www.CricketPulse.com/

Subscribe to CricketPulse Newsletter at http://groups.google.com/group/CricketPulse

ECB chairman confident over Stanford match

England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke expressed confidence on Monday over the world's richest cricket match, the 20-million dollar Stanford Super Series clash against the West Indies.

The opening match between England and the Stanford Superstars side in Antigua on November 1 has been thrown into jeopardy by a dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and their sponsors Digicel, which is currently the subject of arbitration proceedings in London.

But Clarke said: "There is no reason to believe it won't take place. It's involving two other parties rather than ourselves and it doesn't involve Stanford.

"There are issues the West Indies Cricket Board is addressing with Digicel. We're not party to the issue, it's a matter between the two of them.

"I'm sure everybody involved in this debate is concerned for the best interests of West Indies cricket in particular.

"There's no doubt in my mind everybody is seeking to find a sensible solution to enable this very dramatic and extremely exciting game of cricket, which is much awaited in the Caribbean, to take place.

"It will be followed by our tour of the Caribbean, involving Test matches and ODIs, where, of course, Digicel are the WICB sponsors, so I'm sure that the wise heads involved will sort out the issues."

The ECB chairman also dismissed any concerns the 500,000 pound a man on offer to the winners will cause splits in the England camp between the players selected and those left out.

"We get this issue with central contracts getting bigger and bigger, with who's in the team and the high performance squad," he added.

"The debate on who's in the team is as old as cricket. As rewards rise generally, the rewards are rising for the highest quality players. There's nothing odd in that. Take a look at football.

"In many walks of life rewards have become more significant and what we're seeing is cricket's entire community getting used to the fact the rewards have dramatically increased for current players."

England all-rounder Luke Wright agreed that the lure of big money will not split the players. He said when the England squad got together last week the Stanford match was far from top of their agenda.

"It is a big game due to the financial side but in a cricketing context it's the lowest on the priority over the next year," he said.

"Obviously we've got the Ashes and we're out in India in the One-dayers, then there's the World Twenty20 here next year.

"Speaking to the lads it was really just another game that happens. It was actually very nice to see that everyone was concentrating more on winning the Ashes and winning in India than the Stanford game. That's what we are here for."

--
Global Cricket Platform? Check now at http://www.CricketPulse.com/

Subscribe to CricketPulse Newsletter at http://groups.google.com/group/CricketPulse

Indo-Pakistan rivalry beats everything

Their upcoming Test series against Australia may be the flavour of the season but Indian skipper Anil Kumble said nothing can supplant the traditional rivalry that India and Pakistan share in terms of passion and commitment.

The leg-spinner said the upcoming series against Australia would bring out the best from the players, "but Indo-Pak, nothing can beat that passion and competitiveness on the field".

"I think every series has its charm and even India-Australia has such charm. But you can't really beat the rivalry that India-Pakistan has," Kumble told a news channel.

Today the series against Australia has assumed epic proportions and Kumble traced its roots to the historic 2001 tour.

"...(India-Australia) Not really a rivalry kind of a thing, but I think it all started probably in 2001 in Kolkata when we won the Test match and the series. Since then India-Australia series has always been something which everybody looks forward to," he said.

Asked as to how the seniors planned to meet the expectations of the people, Kumble said, "That's the challenge for a sportsman. You are not trying to prove anything to anyone. It's all about your competitiveness, your spirit and your performance is the pride of the country."

India's highest wicket-taker also put a lid on talks surrounding his retirement.

"I am still enjoying the game and enjoying the challenges and it will be great to have a crack at the Australian this time," he said.

"I only take answers from how the body is feeling. I think the body is fairly okay. I take it one series at a time. I don't look too far ahead," Kumble said.

"Probably I am the only cricketer who is still playing cricket after retiring from one day formats. I'm not shy to say I don't miss playing ODI cricket. I still love the game," he added.

About the Australian squad which many felt to be the weakest to have toured the country, Kumble said it was not much different from what India played Down Under.

"When you look at their squad, it's not really that different from what we played in Australia about a year ago. So, in that sense, it's no different, it's just that conditions will be different.

"Home conditions for us and to some of them it's really new, so in that sense they are inexperienced. Probably for us there is a great challenge and the best possible chance for us to go for victory and ensure that we bring back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy," Kumble said.

--
Global Cricket Platform? Check now at http://www.CricketPulse.com/

Subscribe to CricketPulse Newsletter at http://groups.google.com/group/CricketPulse