Chandigarh Lions vs Delhi Jets

So it finally happened. A jam packed stadium with some dazzling performances by Kareena Kapoor and even Laloo Prasad Yadav, the Minister of Railways, came in to say a few encouraging words. The first match was between Chandigarh Lions and Delhi Jets. The Lions won the series opener by 8 runs. In a closely fought contest the Chandigarh side held onto its nerve to defend a smallish total of 134 runs. Darrel Tuffey was given the man of the match award for his 3 wickets and tight bowling.

Click here for the match highlights

India vs Pakistan, Second Test, Days 1 and 2

The first two days have completely belonged to the Indian batsmen. Wasim Jaffer started day 1 reaching 192 and completed his second double ton on Day 2. Then it was upto VVS Laxman and Saurav Ganguly to treat the Kolkatta crowd to a couple of delightful centuries. Dinesh Karthik was the only Indian batsman to miss out on getting a big score. But that did not stop the rest of the Indian batting lineup to impose themselves on a weak Pakistan attack.

There seems to be no hope for Pakistan of winning the second test. Their only option is to bat this test out. But even that is not going to be easy as the pitch is crumbling at an alarming rate. A lot depends on Younis Khan, who is the acting skipper in this match, and Mohammad Yousuf.

Click here for a more detailed report and match highlights

Pakistan vs India, 2007, First Test

The first test has finished in an emphatic 6 wicket win for India. The home team dominated 3 out of 4 full days of cricket. It all started with the toss when Shoaib Malik decided to bat first and misjudged the way the pitch was going to behave. The Indians, however, must be considering themselves lucky to lose the toss. Pakistan never got going in the first innings and thanks to some sensible batting from Misbah ul-Haq the visitors managed to score 231 in their first knock.

India, however, failed to take the initiative and scored 276 thanks to fifties from VVS Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. A first innings lead of only 45 runs would sound very disappointing but it did play a major role in the run chase. All credit must be given to the young Pakistani side that restricted India to such a low first innings total.

Pakistan then started their second innings positively as the openers got rid of the deficit. However, just when things were looking good, Anil Kumble happened to Pakistan. The leggie got the opening that the team so desperately required. After the openers departed, the rest of the batsmen failed to capitalize on the foundation and Pakistan finished at 247, giving India a low target of 203. But Shoaib Akhtar got rid of Dinesh Karthik with only 2 runs on board. Jaffer, Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly played their part in enabling India to reach the target with almost all of Day 5 to go.

Click here for the full match report and highlights

Pakistan vs India, Test Series

Well the ODIs are finished and now we move onto the real test of cricketers, aptly titled the Test Series. India vs Pakistan. Cannot get any better than this. Looking at the statistics of last 10 years, India and Pakistan have faced off 12 times, 4 wins to India, 5 to Pakistan and 3 draws. In other words, its pretty much even stevens at this stage.

Pakistan were pretty comprehensively beaten by India in the recently concluded 5 match ODI series and the Indians would be keen to take this winning momentum into the test series as well. With a long tour of Australia ahead of them, a win against arch-rivals Pakistan could just be the tonic that the country would need if they have any hopes of defeating the mighty Aussies.

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TVU player ------------India vs Pakistan

Pakistan vs India, 2007, 4th ODI

A one man show can only be done by a legend such as Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who was at his deadliest best in yesterday’s day-night match. Winning the toss, Shoaib Malik decided to bat first knowing fully well that the dew would play an important factor in the second innings. RP Singh gave his team the perfect start by getting rid of Salman Butt for a duck and Pakistan never recovered from the 2nd ball of the innings. RP, Pathan and Zaheer were bang on target and barring the odd boundary kept things nice and tight. Pakistan never looked like a team desperate to win this match. Regardless, all credit must be given to the Indian bowlers who bowled admirably to keep the final score to less than 275. Pakistan managed to cross the 250 figure in the final over to reach 255 for the loss of 6 wickets.

With 256 runs required on a wicket that was going to be batsman friendly, the Indians had to ensure that they did not lose early wickets. Saurav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir did just the opposite. Ganguly edged Akhtar to second slip and Gambhir pulled Rao to square leg. Sachin on the other hand was quickly into his rhythm and when he gets into a mood like this there is no respite for the fielding team. The boundaries came at blistering pace and every single shot was a sight to watch. Middling the ball perfectly, the Little Master ripped the Pakistani bowling to pieces.

Joining him was Virender Sehwag, a man looking for redemption. Sehwag started slowly but once he got his timing correct he started smashing the bowlers. Only one man in cricket can match Sachin and that person is Sehwag. The two quickly put on a century partnership and had it not been for some stupid running between the wickets, Sehwag should have reached a 50, one that he deserved to get this time. Still, the signs were clear, he was back in form.

Sehwag’s departure saw Tendulkar in his 90’s. The dreaded 90’s. The way he was batting Sachin deserved a 130-140 score, however as destiny would have it, he inside-edged Umar Gul to his leg stump to depart at 97 leaving the crowd stunned and silent. The damage, however, had been done. The platform had been laid for ODI cricket’s best finishing pair and a finish they did provide. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh are now considered the best batting pair in ODI cricket as the two have now been part of all Indian wins in this series.

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Indian squad announced for first 2 tests

The BCCI selectors announced the 14 man squad that will take on the Pakistanis in the first 2 tests. Final impressions is that this is a squad that is based more on political-wrangling than any common sense. For example, why do they have 3 spinners in as we all know that only 2 will ever get to play. With Kumble the captain the other logical selection would certainly be Harbhajan Singh. Instead of strengthening the top order, the selectors have gone ahead and included Murali Karthik as another spinner.

Gautam Gambhir has failed to make it to the test squad which is a real shame as he has been one of the most prolific batsmen for India in the last couple of months. The selectors should have awarded his performance by giving him a test spot. The fact that hasn’t happened and Murali Karthik has found a place is really very annoying. Karthik has only performed in the last couple of weeks, and he gets a spot.

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Anil Kumble

They say class knows no age, and in the case of Anil Kumble it could never have been said better. The BCCI selectors announced recently that Killer would be the new test captain for Team India. The word Killer sounds just appropriate to this silent assassin as he takes over perhaps the most difficult job in human history.

The question that arises is whether this is only a stop-gap arrangement for Team India. In all honesty, I hope that this isn’t the case and to have two separate captains for the Indian team is actually a bold and intelligent move. As it is there is way too much pressure on a captain and to deal with 3 different squads (Test, ODI and T20) could be mind-boggling for even Superman.

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Pakistan vs India, 2007, 3rd ODI Report and Highlights

So India have bounced back and the see-saw battle between these two countries continues on. But a 2-1 lead in a 5 match series is always handy. Asked to bat first, India scored 294/6 thanks to splendid knocks from Dhoni and Yuvraj. In reply Pakistan could only get to 248 all out. They were well led by Salman Butt who got his fourth century against India and his career best as well.

Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni's calculated attack on the Pakistani spinners enabled India to get out of a difficult situation. Indians then scored 89 runs from the final 10 overs, a key reason why they one the match.

The Indians now lead by 2-1 and all eyes turn to Gwalior for the fourth match between the arch-rivals. Pakistan's turn to bounce back now.

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Pakistan vs India, 1st ODI

Well the first match was a damp squib considering the hype and hoopla before the start of the series. Pakistan were completely outmaneuvered by India in what should be described as a clinical performance. Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first. After the first three overs it seemed that this would be a big total chase. The Indian bowlers came back admirably and restricted the visitors to small, yet defendable, total on a pitch that was predicted to crack and turn in the second innings.

Irfan Pathan got the first breakthrough for India when he trapped Akmal LBW. Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan then decided that they needed practise for the upcoming test series. It took Pakistan almost 23 overs to get a boundary and by that time Harbhajan Singh and Murali Karthik had done the damage. Yousuf’s late hitting helped Pakistan get to 239.

Despite losing Tendulkar cheaply, India had the firepower in their batting to win this match comprehensively. India, as so often happens, were not going to make things that easy. The wickets of Yuvraj and Dhoni fell in quick succession and 15 runs were still required. Robin Uthappa doesn’t care about the situation, if he wants to go after a bowler he will go after that bowler. His straight drive of Shoaib Akhtar was a peach. Full face of the bat, nice balance, lovely follow-through. Yes, I think India have found a reliable batsman. Alongwith Pathan, he ensured that no other hiccups were going to happen as India wrapped up the first match quickly.

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Sachin says no to Test Captaincy

Sachin Tendulkar has decided not to take the Test captaincy in recent news. He cited personal reasons, just like Dravid, for his decision. Its a done deal now on Dhoni being named the Supreme Commander of Team India for all forms of the game. Sachin was previously considered the front-runner for the job in Tests and this situation now is a blessing in disguise for India.

Sachin may have done yet another service to the team and the country by declining the Test captaincy and for that I salute the Little Genius. Yes, there may be some personal reasons - which can only be speculated. However, as has been his career so far, I am pretty sure that this is another selfless decision that he must have made.

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Pakistan in India, 2007, Series Preview

This is the mother of all rivalries. Even Geoff Lawson, coach of Pakistan, has acknowledged that an Indo-Pak contest is far more intense and gripping than the Ashes. The rivalry got a healthy boost after the Twenty20 World Cup final. A match that showcased what an India vs Pakistan encounter can truly be, no matter what the “format”.

Pakistan have already begun their tour on a winning note after defeating Delhi in their tour match. Its amazing how similar these two teams always are in their strengths and weaknesses. This time around the similarity is in the key middle-order batsmen that both sides are missing - Inzy and Dravid.

Virender Sehwag and Shoaib Akhtar are the comeback men for their sides. A lot will depend on how these two perform in their areas. The series is also going to be about the two young captains - MS Dhoni and Shoaib Malik. Both led their teams admirably in the Twenty20 World Cup and the following home series against Australia and Pakistan.

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Australian squad for 1st Test vs Sri Lanka

Australia have announced their squad for the first test against Sri Lanka:

1. Ricky Ponting (captain)
2. Adam Gilchrist
3. Stuart Clark
4. Michael Clarke
5. Matthew Hayden
6. Brad Hogg
7. Michael Hussey
8. Phil Jaques
9. Mitchell Johnson
10. Brett Lee
11. Stuart MacGill
12. Andrew Symonds
13. Shaun Tait

Of the two spinners here, leg-spinner Stuart MacGill and left-armer Brad Hogg will likely vie for a single spinner’s position in the Australian line up. Brett Lee will lead the pace attack comprising Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait.

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IPL vs ICL

More Australians have confirmed signing up to the IPL. The ever-growing list now also includes the following:

1. Ricky Ponting
2. Andrew Symonds
3. Brett Lee
4. Nathan Bracken
5. Michael Hussey
6. Adam Gilchrist
7. Brad Haddin
8. Matthew Hayden
9. Mitchell Johnson
10. Simon Katich
11. Jason Gillespie
    

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Indian squad for First 2 ODIs

Rahul Dravid’s omission is a big one. Besides that there are not a lot of surprises here, except for Virender Sehwag making a comeback and Praveen Kumar finding a place in the squad. Dinesh Karthik and Ramesh Powar have been left out. So has Piyush Chawla who has been struggling a little after his ankle injury during the T20 World Cup. Mohammad Kaif and Parthiv Patel have failed to reach the 15 yet again.

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Pakistan vs South Africa, 4th ODI

South Africa won the fourth match by 7 wickets to level the series 2-2. Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Pakistan never got going with Afridi failing yet again at the top of the order. He went back without scoring. A fighting 82 from Younis Khan and decent contributions from Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Abdur Rehman ensured that Pakistan managed to reach a decent total.

South Africa, however, were clinical in their run chase. Graeme Smith ensured that South Africa got off to a good start and then he had a match-winning partnership with Shaun Pollock who was also very good with the ball earlier on. Both the batsmen made sure that the required run rate would not get out of control and actually ended the match with South Africa scoring at over a run a ball. The series now heads on to Lahore for the fifth and final match which is also going to be the decider in this closely fought series.

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India Red in the final of Challenger Trophy

This tournament is a waste of time with no real sense of which players are good enough to be selected for the Indian squad. You cannot decide an international team based on only a couple of matches. The tournament has not been planned properly with only one game against each other and the final. As it stands after yesterday’s match, India Red are in the final thanks to a bonus point.

In the first match, India Blue were led to victory by a solid innings from Suresh Raina who has vowed to come back into the Indian team. And why not, the bloke has all the right ingredients to play a big part in the future of Indian cricket. He came in when India Blue were in all sorts of problems. At 41-4, India Red were looking to finish this match there and then. However, with some solid middle order partnerships, the Blues managed to post a decent 246. Defendable but also attainable. The Reds never really got going and despite 40+ totals from captain Kaif, Badrinath and Rawat, the total of 247 proved to be elusive.

Match 2 was played yesterday between India Red and India Green. A do-or-die match for the Reds. A loss would have had them kicked out of the tournament. A win would have ensured that they would still have some chance of making it to the final. However, the end result would have please Kaif no doubt, as with the bonus point they are now in the final.

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Ponting - "almost ended up behind bars"

In a recent interview, Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting claimed that his poor remarks after the World Cup win almost landed him and his team behind bars. After the Aussies defeated Sri Lanka in the world Cup final, the players were rejoicing on the ground. After some time one of the police men asked Ponting to get his players to vacate the ground.

Ponting’s response - “Hang on. We’ve just won the World Cup. Can’t you give us one minute?” - after adding “a swear word into that request, which the police officer did not appreciate at all.” Any person would be offended, and definitely saying things like this to a cop is not the best of things to be doing in a foreign country. In Ponting’s own words, “He stepped towards me, and my teammates moved in behind me, as if a real stink was about to take place. I think they threatened to lock us up for the night, and we soon realised that we weren’t going to be permitted to finish our ceremony.”

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New Zealand vs South Africa, Fixture

October 2007
Thu 25 - Sun 28
10:30 local, 08:30 GMT South African Invitation XI v New Zealanders
Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein

November 2007
Thu 1 - Sun 4
10:30 local, 08:30 GMT South Africa A v New Zealanders
Sedgars Park, Potchefstroom

Thu 8 - Mon 12
10:30 local, 08:30 GMT 1st Test - South Africa v New Zealand
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Fri 16 - Tue 20
10:30 local, 08:30 GMT 2nd Test - South Africa v New Zealand
SuperSport Park, Centurion

Fri 23 Floodlit Match
17:00 local, 15:00 GMT Only T20I - South Africa v New Zealand
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Sun 25
10:00 local, 08:00 GMT 1st ODI - South Africa v New Zealand
Kingsmead, Durban

Fri 30 Floodlit Match
14:30 local, 12:30 GMT 2nd ODI - South Africa v New Zealand
St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth

December 2007
Sun 2
10:00 local, 08:00 GMT 3rd ODI - South Africa v New Zealand
Newlands, Cape Town

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India vs Australia 2007, Twenty20 Match

World Champions against World Champions. Definitely a new rivalry in the making. Yesterday night’s match proved why australia still has a little more work to do in this new format of the game. The problem for Australia was the team selection. Australia left out Brad Hogg, clearly their best bowler in the ODI series, and that was where they lost the match.

The Australian openers have always enjoyed batting against the Indians and the T20 format would have suited them to the tee. However, that was not the case to be. Adam Gilchrist started the proceedings by smashing RP Singh for three consecutive fours only to see his middle stump uprooted off the very next ball. India drew first blood. Ponting and Hayden quickly brought up the 50 for the Aussies. It really was Ponting who completely dominated the partnership, and when Hayden fell, the Indians would have known that this could be their night.

The target was 167 runs from 20 overs. Virender Sehwag, who celebrated his 29th birthday yesterday, was the first Indian wicket to fall with the score on 20. Both, Uthappa and Gambhir, put on a match-winning partnership in a passage of play that was exhilarating and intelligent cricket.

Gambhir seems to be revelling in the shortest format of the game and he is now the leading 50 scorer in T20 cricket from India. His innings was the difference in victory and defeat for the defending champions. As he reached his 50, India were well in front of the required rate and all credit must be given to them for playing in a calm manner that belie this young and inexperienced side. Gambhir was eventually handed the man of the event award for which he got a brand new Maruti SX4 car. Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni finished off the chase with a flurry of sixes. Yuvraj is also the leading six hitter in T20 games. He played to the crowd as there was really no need to go all out after the Aussies.

Click here for the full match report and highlights

IPL vs ICL

More pressure now on the ICL to compete with the IPL as a lot of big names have started to snub it off. But this was always going to happen. The ICL management should have worked with the BCCI rather than go against it. With the financial muscle behind the Indian board, the ICL will not have a long life, unfortunately.

Click here for a list of players who have joined the IPL so far.

India vs Australia, 7th ODI

The Indians were playing for pride, the Australians were playing for ego. The series had already been won by the visitors by 4-1 before the match started. Ponting won the toss and got the Australian batsmen first use of the wicket. India had made two changes, Dinesh Karthik came in for Rahul Dravid and RP Singh replaced Sreesanth.

Australia never got off to a good start with Michael Clarke dismissed first ball of the innings. Gilchrist, Ponting and Brad Hodge took the total to 117 before Murali Karthik took center-stage and ripped through the Australian batting order in a mesmerizing spell of left-arm spin bowling. Australia finished at 193 with Karthik taking a 6-wicket haul. Ponting was the only batsmen to get 50+ in the match.

India, needing 194 for a win, started off to an even worse start. Disaster was in the making when wickets continued to fall and at one stage all the recognized batsmen were sitting back in the pavilion waiting for the dreaded defeat. That was not to happen, thanks to some gritty batting by Robin Uthappa and the Indian tail. The match ended with an Indian win by 2 wickets only. Murali Karthik deserved the man of the match award and Andrew Symonds was awarded player of the series.

Click here for the full review and match highlights

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No to racism

In recent reports, Andrew Symonds was racially abused in the 6th ODI between India and Australia. How could this have happened? Indian spectators have always derided their own players but never from another country.

Can this be tolerated in the future? What can be done to stamp this out? The ICC wants the cricket boards to take action. But what can they do when there is over 50K people watching the match. Pinpointing just one person is like looking for a needle in a pretty noisy haystack.

Read more about this here.

Inzy retires

As Dean Jones so affectionately calls him, the Big Bear has finally put in the towel and announced his retirement (Part 1 and Part 2 of the presentation). I would like to, first of all, pay my tributes to a legend who has enriched the game by his spectacular batting. A man who announced himself on cricket’s biggest stage at the World Cup in 1992. Then a lanky 22 year old, Inzy has had a fruitful, eventful, and often controversial career. He has played some truly remarkable innings and has caused quite a few heartaches, thanks mostly to his legendary shocking running between the wickets.

The game of cricket has truly lost a legend. From the incident that saw him almost maul a fan in Toronto, to his captaincy and Pakistan’s shocking ouster from the 2003 World Cup, the man has been involved in a lot of things.

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Why is Sehwag not in the team?

With Gautam Gambhir out of the squad one would have expected Sehwag to make a comeback, however Subramaniam Badrinath has been called into the squad. Which is all nice and good in giving a deserving player a chance. However, what good is that chance when he doesn't even get to play.

Sehwag is the answer to India's top order problems off late against determined pace bowling. The very fact that he is in the team makes the bowlers try to do something new before they have even bowled a single ball.

Will the Indian selectors make the tough decision to drop the seniors? A decision that has been put off for a long time. After the T20 triumph, the country is demanding more and the seniors' continued form slump is making matters worse for them.

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Sri Lanka vs England, 3rd ODI

In a low scoring thriller, England edged out Sri Lanka to win by 2 wickets and take a 2-1 lead in the 5 match ODI series. After electing to bat first, Sri Lanka never started off well and kept losing wickets. Tillekeratne Dilshan was the only player in the entire match who figured out the pitch. His 70 from only 84 balls saved Sri Lanka from an embarrassing total.

Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad ripped through the top order to leave Sri Lanka gasping at 42-4. Swann then did the rest of the damage as he destroyed the middle order and the tail leaving Dilshan out of partners, before he too was dismissed with the score on 164.

England, needing 164 runs from 48 overs, made a complete hash of proceedings when they slumped to 107-7. It was the bowlers, Swann and Broad, who ensured that the visitors took the lead in the series. For Sri Lanka, Fervez Maharoof was the most successful as hi picked up 3 wickets. Swann was awarded man of the match for his all round display.

Click here for match highlights

India vs Australia, 4th ODI

It's taken them almost three years and over 11 matches but today India beat the odds to win the fourth ODI by 8 runs. After electing to bat first, India made 291 runs with Sachin and Dhoni scoring 50s. India opened with Ganguly and Tendulkar, the pair putting on 91 runs for the first wicket and laying the foundations for the big score. The last 4 overs saw India hammer 46 runs. Dhoni smashed 20 from the final over to reach his 50 from only 35 balls. He was well supported by Robin Uthappa who made 30 from only 18 balls.

Australia started the chase superbly despite losing Adam Gilchrist early. The hundred came in only 77 balls and the match seemed to be slipping away. However Irfan Pathan and Dhoni combined together to get rid of Ricky Ponting. Michael Clarke followed soon after, spooning a dolly catch for Bhajji who had his first wicket in almost 5 matches. Murali Kathik then joined in on the fun as Matthew Hayden hit one straight to Zaheer Khan.

Symonds was left alone to do all the big hitting with Brad Hodge finding life difficult in the middle. Another sensational wicket-keeping saw him adjudged stumped by the third umpire. Symonds fell on 75 to a terrific delivery from RP Singh and the next balls saw Brad Hodge throw away his wicket to a good bit of fielding from RP Singh on his follow-through. Plenty of drama at the end as Australia needed 16 from the final over. James Hopes smashed the first ball straight down the ground for 4, however, Zaheer held his nerve and guided India to a much needed win. MS Dhoni was awarded the man of the match.

Click here for the full review

Pakistan in India, 2007, Full Schedule

Fri 2/11 - Tour Match
09:00 local, 03:30 GMT TBC v Pakistanis
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Tue 6/11
09:00 local, 03:30 GMT 1st ODI - India v Pakistan
Nehru Stadium, Guwahati

Fri 9/11 Floodlit Match
14:30 local, 09:00 GMT 2nd ODI - India v Pakistan
Punjab C.A. Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh

Sun 11/11
09:00 local, 03:30 GMT 3rd ODI - India v Pakistan
Green Park, Kanpur

Thu 15/11 Floodlit Match
14:30 local, 09:00 GMT 4th ODI - India v Pakistan
Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior

Sun 18/11 Floodlit Match
14:30 local, 09:00 GMT 5th ODI - India v Pakistan
Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Thu 22/11 - Mon 26/11
09:30 local, 04:00 GMT 1st Test - India v Pakistan
Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Fri 30/11 - Tue 4/12
09:30 local, 04:00 GMT 2nd Test - India v Pakistan
Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Sat 8/12 - Wed 12/12
09:30 local, 04:00 GMT 3rd Test - India v Pakistan
M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

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Big 3 Challenged

Harsh words came out from Dilip Vengsarkar, chairman of selectors, after India's dismal batting performance in the last two matches. None of the Big 3 have done anything, with Ganguly injuring himself in the first match. Tendulkar was showing signs of coming back, however, the form that he displayed in England is nowhere to be seen.

Dravid, on the other hand, quit the Indian captaincy as he wanted to concentrate more on his batting. At the moment, nothing seems to be going right for him and he does seem a little lost. Which makes me wonder if there was more to his resignation from being India's captain in both forms of the game.

A lot depends on how these three are going to perform and its unfair to the other youngsters who had performed admirably in the Twenty20 World Cup. Vengsarkar has definitely done the right thing by putting these three on notice as a patience is now running thin.

Image Source: Indiatimes Cricket

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India vs Australia 2007, Third Match Review

Another match, and another defeat. As I mentioned in my previous post, this is most likely going to be a series whitewash. All the hoopla about the T20 World Cup win is over. Australia has completely dominated the first 3 matches and India been consistent in their shoddy performance in all three matches. The only spark for India was the century by Yuvraj Singh, more on that later.

Glichrist and Hayden started as usual, with Gilly taking the early chances. He was, however, clean bowled by a sweet delivery from Irfan Pathan and India had their first breakthrough. 76-1 was the score in 13.2 overs. Irfan struck again as he had Hayden edging one back to Dhoni and Australia were now 112-2. Ponting followed soon after. India had pulled it back after yet another 50 from Hayden. It seems that he goes into overdrive mode as soon as he faces India.

Clarke and Symonds were the two men that had to save the day for Australia, and did they disappoint? Absolutely…. not. The two put together a match winning 123 run partnership. Clarke got 59 and Symo smacked 89 from only 65 balls. Andrew Symonds was given the man of the match. He is definitely turning it on with a similar score in the second match as well.

India needed a good start. They did not get one. The hosts were 13-3 and the match was all but over. Sachin went into his shell. He scored 43 from 71 balls when he was bowled by Hogg. He had put on a decent 95 run partnership with Yuvraj Singh. At 108-4, India needed another 183 runs from only 25 overs. Dhoni was the new man and the skipper needed to play a captain’s knock. Yuvraj, in the meantime, had reached his half-century and he was looking in ominous form. If India ever needed a miracle it was going to be now. Dhoni and Yuvi put together a quickfire 65 run partnership from 11 overs, however, the required run rate kept creeping up.

Australia now lead the series 2-0 and with 4 more matches to go, this is looking to be a series whitewash.

Click here for the full article

IPL vs ICL, Take 2

Now this comes as a major surprise to me. Mohammad Yousuf, already involved in plenty of drama over whether he is going to play in the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), has now joined up with the BCCI’s official Indian Premier League (IPL).

This is what Cricinfo reported - “Yousuf has signed a contract with the IPL,” Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, told the News, a Pakistani daily. Eight Sri Lankan cricketers, including Muttiah Muralitharan and Mahela Jayawardene, have already signed on with the IPL.

It will be interesting to see which organization will come out on top as both are claiming to have attracted a lot of big name international players. Both are offering relatively similar amounts of money. If the ICL can be officially accredited by the ICC, then we can see some healthy competition among the two leagues. Which in turn is only going to benefit the sport and the sportsmen in India.

Click here to read more related news

India vs Australia 2007, Second Match Review

Embarrassing. Humiliating. Just two words to describe India’s massive 84 run loss to Australia. Just when India was looking forward after their Twenty20 World Cup win, they have been brought back to the harsh realities of ODI cricket. In a clinical display, Gilchrist and his men from down under completed India’s humiliation in supreme fashion.

Brad Haddin scored an unbeaten 87 from 69 balls to take the man of the match award. Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden hammered 87 and 75 respectively to help Australia reach 306 from their 50 overs. For India, Sreesanth was the most successful bowler as he was among the wickets again. Three to Sreesanth, two to Pathan and one for Zaheer Khan.

India needed a fast start and with no Saurav Ganguly, out due to injury, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar were left with that responsibility. That they failed to do so comes as no surprise. Gambhir was the first to go followed by Tendulkar. Uthappa was the only one who looked to attack and play positive cricket. He smashed the bowling in his 41 from only 30 balls. India kept losing wickets despite the fact that the required run rate had come down to less than 6 an over at one stage. At 87-4, with the top order gone, it was only Dravid, Dhoni and Pathan left. Dravid slogged Hogg over mid-wicket only to see Mitchell Johnson take a terrific catch under pressure right at the boundary.

And that was the end of India’s hopes. Pathan followed soon after he got himself runout in a terrible mixup with Dhoni. Any chances of a miracle vaporised for India. The score was 139-6. Dhoni continued on and so did the wickets. The Australians proved why they are the best ODI unit in the world.

Click here for the full article

Pakistan vs South Africa, First Test Day 1

The first day was dominated by the South African batsmen after Graeme Smith won the toss and decided to make first use of the pitch. The two openers, Smith and Gibbs, gave the team a solid start, however, just as things were looking good, Pakistan struck back with two quick wickets. Smith completely misjudged the length of a Mohammad Hafeez delivery and was caught on the backfoot to a fuller length ball. He was LBW on 42 from only 66 balls. Gibbs edged a wide delivery to gully only to see Mohammad Hafeez take a very good low catch.

Amla and Kallis put on a massive 170 run partnership before a beauty from Mohammad Asif rocked Amla’s off stump. The damage had been done, and even though Amla may be disappointed on missing out on a three figure score, he had done his job to perfection. Kallis in the meantime had reached his 25th century from a 147 balls. He is going to be the key man for South Africa and Pakistan will be looking to get him out as soon as possible.

Click here for the full article

ICL recruits more international players

More drama for the rebel league. Mohammad Yousuf does an about turn to ICL's offer and has now decided that he will continue to play for Pakistan. The PCB will be taking care of all the legal repercussions of such a move by Yousuf. The ICL on its part is not going to back away easily as this seems to be a clear breach of contract.

In other news, both Chris Harris and Chris Cairns have also signed up to the ICL. They are also joined by Darren Maddy, Hamish Marshall, Azhar Mahmood and Nathan Astle.

Among the new domestic recruits are Abu Nachem, Amit Uniyal, Aniruddh Singh, Gaurav Gupta, Love Ablish, Mihir Diwakar, Rakesh Patel, Abid Nabi, Kiran Powar, Pritam Das and former India internationals S Sriram and Nilesh Kulkarni.

Read more at Kunalnanda.com

India vs Australia 2007, First Match, Preview

The “Revenge Series” is about to begin in a few hours time. The Australians are pumped up. The Indians are fresh from a high that they have never experienced in over two decades. The atmosphere is going to be high voltage. The drama has already started.

Adam Gilchrist and Ponting have repeatedly pointed out that the Australians are the Test and ODI champions. Absolutely no disagreement with that. But with Twenty20 going to be a big format in the coming years, India can be proud of their achievement of winning the major title with only one game as their experience.

Australia are going without four key players - Michael Hussey, Shaun Tait, Nathan Bracken and Shane Watson. Ricky Ponting is not going to play the first match as he is still not fully fit from his hamstring strain. This gives a rare opportunity for players like Adam Voges, James Hopes and Ben Hilfenhaus who are still new to international cricket.

From India’s point of view, they have defeated the Australians in a pressure game and they should keep that in mind - the invincible can be beaten. With RP Singh and Zaheer Khan to spearhead the pace attack, we have a combo that can truly shake the Australian top order.

Click here for the full article

Ricky Ponting shows true colors

Australians would have several egos being hit hard after their semi-final loss to India in the recently concluded T20 World cup. Ponting says that Indians have gone overboard and that its unfortunate for some seniors to come in place of the youngsters. He also mentions that its easier for the Australians to play against an Indian team that has Sachin, Saurav and Dravid as they have played them before many times.

Andrew Symonds says, “I think we have been pretty humble in the way we have gone about it and personally I think they have got far too carried away with their celebrations. It has definitely sparked passion inside of us.” Well you have not really been humble, Andrew, rather you have been humbled by a bunch of youngsters whose total combined experience is less than Adam Gilchrist and Ponting.

I am just waiting for the Big 3’s bats to do the talking and let’s see if Ponting’s men can walk the talk this time as with comments like these, his team better be prepared for an extra hostile crowd and an extra determined Indian team.

As the Australian saying goes, “Ricky Ponting - You bloody idiot”.

For the full article, click here

What about the selectors?

After the win in the Twenty20 World Cup, a lot of credit and accolades have gone to the players and the support staff. Fair enough. But shouldn’t the real credit go to the BCCI and it’s selectors for actually choosing this bunch of youngsters and making a brave decision of sending Dhoni as the captain in a major tournament.

The decision would have been made even more difficult after Sachin, Saurav and Dravid refused to be considered for this edition of the World Cup. Not only did the selectors have to find out replacements, but to also ensure that the youngsters would be committed to one goal only - to perform way above expectations.

The very fact that nobody had any expectations is what stunned me in the first place. Here is Team India, looking to play in a major world tournament, and nobody was giving them a chance. Thank god almighty, that the team proved everyone wrong, even a red-faced Ravi Shastri at the semi-final presentation ceremony.

For full article, click here

Cash and prizes for the Indian team

A brief summary of what the Indian team has been awarded so far, besides the $490,000 in prize money for winning the world cup:

1. $3,000,000 awarded to the team by the BCCI
2. Sahara awards each member of the Indian squad (15 in total) a free house at any of the 217 Sahara India Parivar owned properties. Each house would be worth Rs 2,500,000 approximately.
3. Free world tour for players and their families on Air India
4. Robin Uthappa to receive Rs 300,000 from the Kerala government.
5. RP Singh to receive Rs 200,000 from the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA). RP may also get the coveted Manyavar Kanshiramji International Sports award which carries a prize of Rs 1,000,00.
6. Joginder Sharma, the last over hero of the semi-final and final, has been awarded Rs 2,100,000 by the Haryana government.
7. Sehwag and Gambhir to get Rs 500,000 each by the Delhi government.
8. Dhoni to be conferred the first ever Jharkhand Ratna, which incidentally carries a Rs 500,000 reward, and will also receive a “surprise” gift from the Jharkhand chief minister Mr Madhu Koda.
9. Yuvraj Singh awarded Rs 10,000,000 by the BCCI after his semi-final performance. He will also be given a brand new Porsche car.
10. RP Singh will be given a Mercedes by Neosport.

For full article, click here

India vs Pakistan, T20 Final

Phew! Amazing. Spectacular. Astounding. Thriller. Sensational. Exhilarating. I am actually out of words to describe this match. No anti-climaxes here. The ending justified why these two teams made it to the finals. It was a day to remember, for both teams played like there was no tomorrow. The edge-of-the-seat thriller that only an India-Pakistan tie can create.

Dhoni won the toss and batted first. Yousuf Pathan opened with Gambhir but did not last long. Neither did Robin Uthappa. However, Gambhir continued to motor along and was joined by Yuvraj Singh. With Yuvi new to the crease and with the ball not really coming onto the bat, the Pakistani skipper brought in his spinners. Yuvraj failed to get his timing correct. Umar Gul was brought into the attack and in just his second over he had Yuvraj mistiming a pull shot and the most dangerous Indian batsman departed after a struggling time in the middle. Dhoni followed soon after with a beat of a delivery. Rohit Sharma provided the much needed flurry at the end of the innings. the target was set at 158.

RP Singh rocked the Pakistani top order and Pathan took care of the middle order. Pakistan were now under pressure and Misbah-ul-haq was now the lone ranger for Pakistan. The man with nerves of steel was the perfect candidate for a pressure situation like this. 54 runs required from 24 balls quickly changed to 23 from 16 balls with 2 wickets in hand. A wicket and a boundary later, the final equation was 13 from the final over with Misbah on strike and Joginder Sharma to bowl the final over.

Jogi bowled a wide outside the off stump and it quickly became two clean hits required. Misbah tried to get one but a swing and a miss meant 12 needed from 5 balls. The next one he walked down the crease and smashed the ball down the ground for a massive six. That shot made it 6 from 4 balls. Then he did the strangest thing off the next ball. Looking to clobber another one down the ground, Misbah walked down towards the off stump, and instead of smashing it down the ground, he decided to scoop it over short fine leg. A cheeky shot. It did not come through as he wanted it to and Sreesanth took the most important catch of his career so far. India were the Twenty20 Champions.

For the full article click here

For the newbies... a guide to watching cricket online

Hi people

Our shoutbox is generally flooded with requests from people on how to watch the matches as it is their first time online on this blog.

First of all thanks for coming here and enjoying your cricket. We really appreciate it.

Please Note : We do not create these streams and are not involved in any form of copyright violations. We merely find P2P streams of commonly used P2P streaming players available (Sopcast and TVU) and post the same on the website.

To play these streams first you need to install Sopcast and TVU player. The match is available in either of the two. (Click on the player name to download.)

Links to streams or the streams themselves are embedded in our blog (usually the first post on the blog) just before the match starts. These players are active X controls which are proprietary to Microsoft Internet Explorer so please open the blog in IE only. You shall not be able to see the links in Mozilla Firefox or Safari or any other browser which does not support running Active X controls.

Hope this helps.. For any more queries please post a comment to this post and Ill try to answer it asap.

Cheers
Sparsh

India vs Australia, 2nd Semi-Final

This is it, an India vs Pakistan final in a World Cup. Who cares if its only a Twenty20 World Cup. I think after yesterday's semi-final win against the Aussies, T20 is going to become a huge hit in the subcontinent. The formula of sending a younger team for a big tournament seems to have worked, as for the first time India, have shown what they can do without the holy trinity of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly.

India, on the back of yet another scintillating effort from Yuvi, set the Aussies a big target of 189. Uthappa and Dhoni contributed as well. For Australia, none of the bowlers were exceptional. In the chase, only Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds kept Australia's hopes alive, but superb bowling from India in the last 4 overs ensured that Australia are now going to pack their bags and head back home.

India will now take on Pakistan in the final at Johannesburg, but there are some questions that do need to be asked at this stage. Is Twenty20 going to have a big future, just like ODI cricket? Have the Australians taken this tournament too lightly? What about England? They were the team with the most T20 experience, yet they failed to win a single match in the Super Eights. In all likelihood it is going to be a cracker of a game on Monday.

For the full article click here

Pakistan vs Bangladesh, Group F

Pakistan was the only team to finish undefeated in the Super Eights and have setup a cracker of a semi-final against New Zealand. The other semi-final will be between Australia and India. Looking at these two matches, two possibilities can surely happen. Either India vs Pakistan or New Zealand vs Australia.

Bangladesh scored 140 in their innings on the back of a terrific 71 from Junaid Siddique. Had it not been for him this would have been an embarassing exit. For his effort he was given the man of the match award.

Pakistan, on their part, looked flat and completely out of gas. They struggled to reach their total and although there was an over left, that does not tell the complete story. Bangladesh displayed a lot of character in defending such a low total and could have almost won this match had they scored 10 more runs.

For the full article click here

Twenty20 World Cup, India vs South Africa, Group E

Image Source: Cricinfo.com

India stormed into the semi-finals with a comprehensive 37 run win over the hosts. This would be an utter shock to South African fans as the had been cruising so far until they hit a road-block in the name of India. Rohit Sharma and RP Singh were the stars for this Indian win. All did not start well for India. Yuvraj Singh, the star yesterday, withdrew from the match due to tendonitis of the left elbow. This ensured that Rohit Sharma would get a look in. Boy did he make full use of this chance. India won the toss and once again Mahi decided to bat first. In all three occasions that India have batted first, they have won the match, so this was the most logical choice. However, things were not as rosy as 24 hours ago. The Indian top order struggled and all of a sudden they were 33-3 and when Uthappa departed the score read 61-4. Thanks to good batting from Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India reached a competitive 153 in their 20 runs.

An inspired spell of bowling saw the South African top-order fall apart. At 12-3, South Africa had lost Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers. Justin Kemp followed soon after thanks to a spectacular run our by the star of the day - Rohit Sharma. Shaun Pollock was the next to go and the South Africans were really struggling at 31-5 from 5.5 overs. The term chokers has long been associated by South Africa and defeats like these reinforce that statement. RP Singh was awarded man of the match for his sensational bowling figures -> 4-0-14-4.

For the full article click here

India vs England, Group E

Still in shock? You are not the only one. Every single Indian is probably in some state of shock. What a whirlwind effort from Yuvraj Singh. Six sixes in six balls is more a toungue-twister than a fact. India won the toss and Mahi elected to bat first. Sehwag and Gambhir set the stage with an impressive first wicket stand of 136 runs. Cometh the man, cometh the moment. Yuvraj then took centre stage when he smashed Stuart Broad to all parts of the ground. The 19th over cost England 36 runs and was the deciding factor in India's win.

England's chase started off to a decent start, however Pathan, RP Singh and Harbhajan Singh have improved tremendously and seem to have grasped the type of bowling required to stop the runs from flowing like water coming from a collapse of the Hoover Dam.

Yuvraj was made man of the match, and rightly so. India will now face South Africa in another do or die battle as a loss would mean an exit home. A win would mean that New Zealand, South Africa and India would be in 2 wins each and the net run rate factor would come into play.

For the full article click here

Pakistan vs Australia, Group F

The Australian train was derailed yesterday by none other than Pakistan, perhaps the most unpredictable team in the history of cricket. Shoaib Malik won the toss he put the mighty Australians in to bat first. In a game like Twenty20 it is always a benefit that a strong batting team has to bat first as they have no idea what score to target or how the pitch is going to behave.

Australian openers have been sensational in their past couple of matches, but so have been Mohammad Asif and Sohail Tanveer. Tanveer, who probably had his best match of the tournament, picked up 3 key Australians wickets - Gilchrist and Hayden in his opening spell and Hussey in his final spell. Gilchrist, Ponting, Symonds, Hussey and Hodge got starts but, except for Hodge, none of them went on to stay till the end and that probably made the difference between victory and defeat.

With 165 runs to chase from 20 overs, the game was very much on. However, Australia has one of the best bowling lineups even without Glenn McGrath or Shane Warne, and Pakistan soon found that out when they were 46-4 from 6.4 overs. The fans would have their hearts in their mouths as the match was set for Shahid Afridi’s antics. However, that was not to be as Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-haq put together an unbeaten 119 run partnership to seal the match.

For the full article click here

New Zealand vs England, Group E

New Zealand continued on its merry way with another win, albeit by only 5 runs, and seem to have booked an early spot for the semi-finals. And the red hot form of South Africa is going to ensure a mouth-watering match at Durban tomorrow. Paul Collingwood won the toss and, as has been the case in the tournament, he decided to field first. The Kiwis did not get off to a good start as the top order collapsed to Anderson, Broad and Flintoff. Lou Vincent was the only top order player to reach double figures, but even that wasn’t a lot - only 13 runs.

The old guard then took charge of the match for New Zealand with Scott Styris and Craig McMillan joining hands together for a match-winning 60 run partnership. Styris dominated this one scoring 42 runs from 32 balls with 4 big hits and 1 boundary.

England started off well and were 62-0 in 7.4 overs when disaster struck as Vikram Solanki holed out to Lou Vincent. Maddy, whose 50 from only 31 balls could have been match-winning, departed soon after followed even sooner by Paul Collingwood. All of a sudden the scoreboard was 87-3. And when Pietersen (24 from 16) and Flintoff (1 from 1) were sent back to the pavilion (so to speak) the English were in deep trouble with the score reading 104-5. Owais Shah and Luke Wright tried to bring them closer to the toal, but a flurry of wickets towards the end ensured that New Zealand remained undefeated in the Super Eights.

Click here for the full article

The Best World Cup Ever!

T20 has proved to be the most sensational Tournament of the year
Can anyone still doubt that the standard of cricket at the highest level would decline with just twenty over matches? Perhaps not. What cricket fans have experienced in the past one week has been something out of the world for them. Its been like a genie from the magical world taking everyone by surprise. Short matches. More action. More thrill. It seems like old days when batsmen were out caught in the slips or the bowlers probing them outside the off stump line. What has added to this thrill is unpredictability of the game. Australia beaten by Zimbabwe …. India won against Pakistan 3-0…… and West Indies beaten after scoring at above 10 an over! The rules of bowl out, free hit and even the players seated on the ground itself has lead cricket into new dimensions. But as cricketing bodies around the world say that its just the starting. Soon there will be cricket leagues which would make the game even better at the international level. What more can we expect….. perhaps no onfield umpires some day, indoor stadiums and most importantly cricket being a global sport!
With the future being bright for the game this is Vibhore signing off.

New Indian Captain(s) to be named today

The BCCI is going to announce the successor to Rahul Dravid today. It is still unclear if the board is going to name two captains - each for one day and test matches. There is a lot of speculation that Dhoni will be named the ODI captain as he is already leading the team in the Twenty20 World Cup.

This may very well be true as Dhoni does have the right attitude to lead the team. His work ethic and brain are second to none in the Indian team.

For the tests, the board will probably have a three-way tussle between Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman.


Click here for the full article

Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, Group F

In the only game of the day, Pakistan overcame Sri Lanka by a comfortable 33 runs. Fifties from Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan set the win for the men in green. Sri Lanka won the toss and Mahela Jayawardene put Pakistan in first. The top order never really got going and soon Pakistan were 33-3 thanks to Dilhara Fernando and the ever-dependable Chaminda Vaas. It was then that Shoaib Malik joined ex-skipper Younis Khan (man of the match) and the two started rebuilding Pakistan’s innings which finally reached a massive 189 runs.

Yes, the chase was very much on. When you have a man like Jayasuriya in your team any total would look attainable. And his form has been nothing short of awesome so far in the series. If the Pakistani bowlers were going to target anybody then it was him. Upul Tharanga has been very good so far, however he failed in today’s match and went without scoring off the second ball of the innings. Jayasuriya followed soon after getting only 5 runs. Sri Lanka was never going to recover from 5-2 losing Jayasuriya so early.

They say its all about momentum in a Twenty20 game, and its true to some extent. With this win, Pakistan have gained a valuable 2 points and will look forward to their next match, where another win will surely see them through to the semi-finals. Can we have another India-Pakistan thriller in the semis? Only India’s performance and time will tell.

Click here for the full article

South Africa vs England, Group E

South Africa continued their unbeaten run in the Twenty20 World Cup with a comfortable 19 run win over England. After winning the toss, Collingwood had no hesitation to put South Africa in.

The South Africans did not start off very well and were 42-3 at one stage. However, good and sensible batting from Shaun Pollock, Justin Kemp and Albie Morkel kept them in the game and they finished with a challenging total of 154.

England started of in disastrous manner with Luke Wright getting out for a duck in the first over. Only Matt Prior and Owais Shah contributed to the score, the rest of the batting was very ordinary and had it not been for these two, this could have been an embarassing defeat for the English.

Its funny to think that England gave birth to Twenty20 cricket and their last two performances have been quite pathetic to say the least.

Read more at Kunalnanda.com

Australia vs Bangladesh, Group F

Australia cruised to another win yesterday as they beat Bangladesh by 9 wickets and 37 balls to spare. Winning the toss, Ponting put Bangladesh in to bat.

Tamim Iqbal and Nazimuddin provided a 40 run opening partnership before Johnson broke through getting Nazimuddin to drive straight to Ponting who fumbled on his first attempt but managed to hold on. The highlight of the day was a hat-trick by Brett Lee in his third over. The final score read 123/8. Aftab Ahmad continued with his good form scoring 31 from 34 balls.

A total of 124 from 20 overs was never going to be challenging to a team like Australia. Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden provided a rollicking 104 run opening stand and it was only a question of when the match would be over. Australia and South Africa are on a roll now, and it wouldn't be surprising if these two met in the finals.

Image Source: Cricinfo.com

Click here for the full article

India vs New Zealand, Group E

The first match of the Super Eight ended in a close finish, with the Daniel Vettori led Kiwis winning by 10 runs. And did he lead, by god. The man has grown a lot in cricket, and it was all evident as he wound a magical spell around the top Indian batsmen known to be the best players of spin.

New Zealand were asked to bat first and ended up making 190 runs thanks to solid contributions from Jacob Oram and Craig McMillan in the last 5 overs that cost 78 runs. India had done well uptil that moment and gave away far too many runs in the end. Agarkar, Sreesanth and Yuvraj were the most expensive, while Harbhajan was the best Indian bowler.

The run chase started in spectacular fashion with Sehwag and Gambhir smashing the bowling left, right and center. However, Vettori (man of the match) destroyed any chances of a win with an inspiring spell of spin bowling as he snagged the middle order. He finished with 4 wickets.

Image source: Cricinfo.com

For full article click here

Warne knows what it takes to be Sachin

Names the Indian genius best cricketer ever.
Shane Warne announced the names of 10 cricketers who he thought were the best to have played the game till date and not much surprisingly he has named Sachin Tendulkar as the best he ever saw. Saying that the batsman was under pressure right from the day he started playing cricket Warne acknowledges his mental strength. Sachin has scored runs all over the world and continues to do so and never gets boggled down by wrong decisions of the umpires. The cricketer who comes second in the list is Brian Lara. Like Sachin he too has scored massive amounts of runs and is great to watch. Warne says that it was great to see Tendulkar perform so well under pressure when he came out to bat in India. Truly, Shane Warne is a big Tendulkar fan!

Third ODI

Being a day affair India opted to bowl first after winning the toss and this decision proved out to be the wrong one at the end of the day. English batsman scored at will most of the times of the match and once again it was Ian bell who proved to be the thorn in the Indian flesh as he held the innings together for his team. Indians came out to bat with 282 required and once again succumbed under the pressure. It was up to the openers to provide a good start and they failed in doing this. Ganguly scored 72 runs but it took him too many deliveries to get there and he never actually looked in total command of the situation. Hesitant to play his shots and then as usual the running between the wickets was poor. India lost the third one-day due to their own mistakes of dropping catches, poor fielding and above all poor decision making to bat second. Will these mistakes be sorted out? Its all up to Dravid and Co. to answer.

Second ODI

After success at Trent Bridge India finally tasted victory once again in England when they defeated them by 9 runs in a thrilling encounter in Bristol. What did the trick for the Indians were the spinners comprising of Piyush Chawala and Ramesh Powar sharing the wickets of the most important four English batsman between them. Chasing the huge total England once looked well in control of the situation with Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell scoring at will.
The short boundaries in Bristol made sure that the second ODI was a run feast for the batsman. It was earlier in the day that Sachin Tendulkar made merry when the sun was out but fell short of a run to make his third century at this ground and once again the umpire’s decision was at doubt. After his wicket fell it was the turn of the man of match Rahul Dravid to take charge scoring an unbeaten 92 of just 63 balls to help India post a modest total. With the absence of Zaheer Khan in the bowling attack the opening bowling looked clueless and once again Agarkar was taken to task by the English batsman. What mattered the most was that the series is now 1-1 with everyone looking forward to much more great cricket.

Lucky to Meet the Stars – Tell us

Share your wonderful experience of meeting the cricket stars with us. Tell us where you met them and how did it feel so that everyone can know more about their heroes.
You can also send us your pictures with the stars and we would be delighted to post them up. So come out and share your experience with the world and tell them how lucky you were.
Send us your entries soon as a comment or mail us at vibhore123@gmail.com

Warne , Lara and Mcgrath join Indian Crcket League

Yes guys its confirm now the big 3 who have left international cricket are all set to make a comeback not in international cricket but they will be playing in the Indian Cricket League also known as ICL starting this October. All 3 have been said to sign contracts with the League and will be seen very soon in India. Though it is good news for their fans in India and all around the world to see them back in action but is this League which was seen as nurturing young talent in India and bringing up youngsters for future going in the right direction?

There have been lot of opposition from BCCI and they have gone on records to say that no cricketer or administrator will be part of it if they have to stay with the BCCI. So what do you guys think is the ICl a right thing for Indian cricket will it help to bring up youngsters in future or its just another money making venture? Lets hope for the best

Lethal bowling by Malinga got him better than a Hat-Trick!

SLINGING TO GLORY: Lasith Malinga

Image Source - cricinfo.com

Slinger got 4 wickets in 4 balls against mighty South Africans in WC
This is one of the biggest moment of cricket this year. Chasing 210 the South Africans were comfortably placed at 206 for 5 when Malinga came to bowl his 8th over of the match. With his fifth bowl of the over he got the wicket of Shaun Pollock and what deceived Pollock was a slow ball on the stumps. In came Andrew Hall he pulled out a speedy yorker only give the ball to Tharanga as a catch. Score now read 206 for 7.
The next over saw only one run and then Malinga was called on to bowl his 9th over. He got Kallis out of the first bowl bowled. Malinga had taken a hat-trick. Kallis went for a square drive and nicked it to Sangakkara. Next to the crease was Ntini and he too was out first bowl and would u believe it Malinga had got four in four! The score now read 207 for 9. The next batsman missed a delivery which was not far away from the off stump. The end saw South Africa win the match but the heroics of this dangerous bowler will always remain alive.

Bad Weather and Dhoni save India

FEELS LIKE VICTORY: MS Dhoni
Image Source - Cricinfo.com
1st Test Day 5 Analysis
India finally saved the first test which ended in a draw. With just 1 wicket left for victory the English were furious to see the weather play the spoilsport. It was MS Dhoni who batted with the tail patiently to see bad light take over the rest of the game. The partnership between Dhoni and Laxman gave India the initial hope of saving the match but when Laxman was bowled by Tremlett it was all left to Dhoni to show India the way. Running out of partners Dhoni never gave it away and even after there were some confident appeals against him he forgot them early and carried on. It was a feeling of victory in the Indian camp after the result of the match.
The team has had such moments in the past were had they batted for an hour or so more than they did they would have saved the match. One such moments was in 2002 when India toured the West Indies. Had they batted for sometime then it would have rained there. This rain continued there for a week washing out the two one-day matches scheduled.
The next match starts on Friday at Trent Bridge.

Have your say

Hi people

Think that Sachin has come off age and should retire ??? Consider the Duckworth-Lewis system utter crap ???? Does Ganguly deserve to be reinstated as captain ??? Who should be India's next coach ??? Think Bob Woolmer was murdered ???

Well there are thousands of things you might want to shout out to the world .. but where is the place where you shall be heard ???

Go ahead make a comment to this post ... tell us anything you feel in relation to cricket..

Cheers
Sparsh

Karthik Holds forth as Sachin-Dravid fail

TRAPPED AGAIN : Rahul Dravid

Image Source - cricinfo.com

Day 4 Analysis
We were lucky that we could have a full days play on the fourth day. The day started with wickets for RP Singh - as he got his first 5 wicket haul in Test cricket - the vital scalps of Vaughan, Collingwood and Bell were his. But it was after this that Kevin Pietersen showed England the way. With majestic 134 he answered his critics in the way only he could have and his celebration on reaching his 8th century in Test cricket. He along with Matt Prior put on a long partnership and which made sure that it was all England in the first test. When the English innings got over they left India with 380 runs to win.
Indians, specially Karthik started off positively by hitting the bad balls away and so keeping the scoring rate ticking. The first blow came to India when Jaffer got out. He never looked good in this innings. Next came the Indian captain to the center who looked to play positively again by hitting a boundary off his first ball but then Tremlett got the better of him. By the end of play India had lost Sachin too. It was Ganguly and Karthik at the crease. Requiring 243 to win on the final day the English are in with a good chance. If the weather hols up then we can expect a good day of lively cricket.

Breathtaking Strokeplay by Gibbs

It was in the 2007 World Cup that the record for hitting 6 sixes in an over in an international match was finally made and who did it was Herschelle Gibbs the most devastating batsman in the current South African team. When on song Gibbs is better than most batsman in the world and thats what he showed in this innings too. The record came against the minnows Netherlands when Dan van Bunge came out to bowl his fourth over. Was is great batting or simply poor leg break bowling? This was what the critics were busy talking about but the fact remains that it was Gibbs who now holds the record for hitting 6 sixes in 6 deliveries. Amazing!

India Struggles to Keep Pace as England March on

INTO THE GROOVE : Andrew Strauss

Image Source - cricinfo.com
1st Test Day 2 and Day 3 Analysis
Excitement deepened as ball swung and wickets fell on both sides on rain hit day 2 and day 3 at Lord’s. Indians dismissed 6 English batsman on the morning of the second day only to find themselves in trouble after being all out for paltry 201 in the first innings. It was the batting which the Indian team relied on from the start of the series and failure of the batsman to produce good spells disasters for them. Dravid, Sachin and them Ganguly fell on some really good deliveries by James Anderson, who eventually took 5 wickets. Wasim Jaffer was the highest scorer for India with 58 runs. He falied to capitalize after getting off to a really good start. Major disappointment for the Indians came when Dhoni was dismissed without scoring a run.
Indians started to ball with 97 runs behind in the first innings and these runs have made a huge difference between the two sides and then eventually on the result of the match. With England finishing day three with 77 runs on the board and just 2 wickets lost they are looking to dictate terms to the Indian batsman when they come out to play in the fourth innings if the match. England would be hoping that it doesn’t rain much in the two days left and the Indians on the other hand would look for loads of luck in cricket and if not then pray for rain!

England flourishes before India Strikes back

1st Test Day One Analysis
Toss, dropped catches and thick edges going past slips saw India struggle most part of the day one at Lord’s. England one the toss and chose to bat on a pitch tailor made for batting. Poor bowling to the left handed openers was the first thing which went wrong for the Indians. It was a lucky break when Ganguly trapped Cook plum before the wicket. But the four bowlers could not derive much advantage from it as Vaughan came in and had no problems tackling Indian attack. He and Strauss had a 142 run partnership before Strauss fell four short of a hundred. Anil Kumble once again pounced on the mistake committed by the batsman. This brought out the English superstar Kevin Pietersen to the middle. It was now becoming a tough toil for Zaheer , RP and the unilucky Sreesanth. Short stuff was tried to Peterson who put most of those waist height balls to the fence with arrogance and left the others with ease to Dhoni. It was finally RP who came around the wicket and got the priceless wicket of the England captain just when he was eyeing his sixth century at Lord’s. Kumble struck in the next over itself trapping Collingwood with his wrong one. Two wickets in two overs waked up India from day long slumber. Finally bad light stopped play on day one with just 80 overs bowled. Weather forecast for day two is really bad but lets reamin positive and in hope for a full day of lively cricket.

England - And the Birth of Indian Greats

Image Source - Cricinfo.com

As the Indian team prepares for the all important tour to England its time to see what the past tours to the country have provided us. It all began in 1990 when a 16yr old went on to make his first test century. Indian cricket came to realise what Sachin Tendulkar was really made up of. The fire still burns in him and the hunger for runs still remains.

The tour of England in 1996 saw the birth of India's two most comprehensive batsmen of the past decade. Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly came into limelight with both scoring well in their first test at Lords. All three of then today stand as pillars of the Indian batting line up and all of them have lead the team sometime or the other.

The previous tour again brought some young men into limelight. This time it was Yuvraj Singh and Md. Kaif at the same Lords ground. Yuvraj Singh has come a long way since then, appropriately termed as country's best ODI player, he might just lead the team one day. So will this tour provide us another batting great who would actually last in the team for long and lead from the front one day? Who knows.

Sachin - The master blaster is back

Image Source : Hindustan Times
Hi people

Those who had access to watch yesterday's match were literally feasted to a mouth watering innings by Sachin Tendulkar. He looked confident right from the start and had a very positive approach to his game, looking to hit the ball whenever he could ; sometimes even hitting rash strokes but it was great to see him come back to his old form - the ones that the greatest of bowlers fear in their dreams.

Sachin should have silenced his critics for the time being who had been behind his life for so many days, demanding his removal from the team. I think we Indians need to be more loyal to our heroes. As long as they are doing well we love them and some even go to the extent of worshiping them but the moment they commit a fault - we are behind their lives and start treating them as criminals. The world cup debacle left many hearts shattered, but in retrospect some bad management decisions were also behind our poor show.

There is no point discussing them now, but one thing that many cricket experts have been pointing out in various news channels is that Sachin needs to be kept as an opening batsman only. That is his usual position and he can play his natural game when he is opening. Keeping his 3rd or 4th down doesnt let him play to his full ability. He is forced to come in the game when India is not doing well and then he is expected to last till the mid 40 overs and stabilise the innings and when he doesnt deliver , we want his head.

Come one people, lets give this man his due credit. He has reached another milestone by becoming the first man to attain 15000 runs under his belt and that is no mean feat. Some people think he is played for so long thats why his records so let me make some things clear by showing you some stats..

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0

SR Tendulkar (India)	1989-2007	387	377	37	15043	186*	44.24	17569	85.62	41	79	18
ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL)	1989-2007	395	384	18	12063	189	32.95	13317	90.58	25	64	29
Inzamam-ul-Haq (Asia/Pak)	1991-2007	378	350	53	11739	137*	39.52	15812	74.24	10	83	20
SC Ganguly (Asia/India)	1992-2007	294	284	23	10880	183	41.68	14763	73.69	22	68	14
BC Lara (ICC/WI)	1990-2007	299	289	32	10405	169	40.48	13086	79.51	19	63	16
RT Ponting (Aus/ICC)	1995-2007	280	272	32	10395	164	43.31	12950	80.27	23	62	16

Table Source : Wisden

. Now those who say that Ponting is a much better batsman. Think again.
He has played 100 matches less than Sachin and has scored about 5000 runs lesser. To equal his record he would have to score at 50 runs per match. His current average is 43.31 so I dont see him overtaking Sachin anytime soon .Moreover it takes a heck of a long time to play 100 more matches.

Sachin needs to do more to please his fans who are waiting for a century by him. It was disappointing to see him get out in the 90's in the last two innings and am really looking forward to his next.

All the best Sachin ... May you keep making India proud.

Cheers
Sparsh

England rediscovers the joys of Spin Bowling

Phenomenal success ofMonty Panesar has guided Enland to a 3-0 sereies win against West Indies. Monty Panesar picked up 23 wickets at 19 apiece to show once again that spinners can perform well in English conditions. His 2006 summer exploits against Pakistan further confirm the same fact.

So have England finally found a match winner in Panesar? It seems that they certainly have. An impressive part of his bowling has been to consistently attack the stumps which gives him maximum chances of picking up wickets in comparison to his teammate Ashley Giles who was critised for bowling a negative line. One thing is for sure that if panesar keeps bowling some of those perfect balls, which got him the wicket of Denesh Ramdin, he certainly is a very bright future for England.

Does this make him the best finger spinner in the world? Better that Daniel Vettori and Harbhajan Singh? This question is yet to be answered. But who knows if there is another wonderful performance in the forthcoming series against India, having some of the best players of spin bowling, the question will certainly have a positive answer.

Rain ruins Indias chances to win first test

Really poor luck for TEAM INDIA has meant that the first test is heading for a draw. Just when it looked that our team was gaining confidence and was going to win the test series 2-0 the rain interrupted.

Now if this test goes for a draw, than lets hope that we win the second test quite convincingly to continue the confidence and the spirit gained from the one-day series otherwise it would be really bad for our team to come back home without winning the test series.

Its going to be long 8 months for TEAM INDIA now as they have to play cricket for more than 100 days. Lets hope for the best and it would be really good if our team continues this momentum gained.

Cheers
Vivek

Highlights Pakistan vs Sri Lanka

Here are the links

Sri Lanka Batting: http://www.tnlworld.com/highlights/Abu_Dhabi_ODI_Series/1st.ODI/SL.Batting.asf

Pakistan Batting :
http://www.tnlworld.com/highlights/Abu_Dhabi_ODI_Series/1st.ODI/PAK.Batting.asf

Highlights India vs Bangladesh Day 1

Viru faces career-defining moment

The series is in the bag, but for Team India there is much to accomplish in the third one-dayer at Chittagong on Tuesday, especially for a certain Virender Sehwag, who faces a career defining moment. If he fails again, even skipper Rahul Dravid's patience with him may run out.

If you can't remember the last time India made a clean sweep in a one-day series, never mind; it's on the cards now. After taking a 2-0 lead in the series, India are now looking forward to a whitewash.

"one of our goals when we started the one-day series was to try and win it 3-0. We still have one game to play and that still remains our target," India captain Rahul Dravid told a press conference.

The injured S Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan have been rested for the dead rubber, meaning that Munaf Patel will be spearheading the attack, and RP Singh will likely get the nod ahead of Dinesh Mongia. There will be three openers to slot in - Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir.

A book could have been written about Sehwag's mysterious slump of form in one-day cricket. Time seems to have run out for Viru and now, only an extra-terrestrial innings in Chittagong can revive his one-day career.

"Someone of Sehwag's calibre, we truly do believe that he will go all the way and a bigger innings. He is getting starts but not carrying on. So, that's definitely something we know Sehwag should do and he himself knows that. He has got to now carry on and start converting those starts to more meaningful contributions to the game," Dravid adds.

This will also be the last game in charge for Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, who would want to end his four-year run with a win.

Srilanka v Pakistan - Abu Dhabi Three-match ODI series !!

Srilanka and Pakistan are to play a 3 match ODI series in Abu Dhabi starting May 18. Both teams have announced their teams.

After all hoopla about changes in the team after the dismal performance in the world cup, Pakistan selectors have unearthed just 2 new faces to be included in the 16 man squad, Fawad Alam and Najaf Shah.
Drug tainted Mohammad Asif has also been included but there is no report released of him currently being drug free. What more he is now the vice captain !!
Salman Butt makes a comeback.
All in all the selectors have included 6 openers in the 16 man squad.

BTW, an official complaint has been filed against Imran Farath by chief of selectors Salahuddin Ahmed for the latters protests against being ignored for the series !! Dunno how on earth Farath felt he was worthy of a place in the team after all his failures. May be he feels he is good enough to be among the top 6 openers in the country !! :lol:

Anyways here is the Pak squad.

Shoaib Malik (capt),
Salman Butt,
Imran Nazir,
Mohammad Hafeez,
Yasir Hameed,
Mohammad Yousuf,
Shahid Afridi,
Fawad Alam,
Kamran Akmal (wk),
Abdul Razzaq,
Mohammad Asif,
Mohammad Sami,
Umar Gul,
Rao Iftikhar,
Najaf Shah.



The Lankans have dropped Attapattu for this series. He wasn't played in a single game in the World Cup !!
Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas have not been included in the squad so that they could play county cricket in England. :shock:

Lankan Squad.

Mahela Jayawardene (capt) Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Silva, Tillekaratne Dilshan, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Malinga Bandara, Lasith Malinga, Malinda Warnapura, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Ruchira Perera, Ishara Amerasinghe, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Chamara Kapugedara.


Clear disadvantage for the Lankans without their top 3 players.

Afro Asia series ... Asian team announced

As you guys know soon the Afro Asia cup kicks off soon so here are the Asian squads announced for the tournament

The tournament will kick off with the Twenty20 international (June 5 in Bangalore) and will be followed by three ODIs, on June 6 and 9 (Chennai), and 10 (Bangalore).

Asia ODI team

1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Upul Tharanga, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Sachin Tendulkar, 6 Mohammad Yousuf, 7 Yuvraj Singh, 8 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Chaminda Vaas, 11 Shoaib Akhtar, 12 Lasith Malinga, 13 Mohammad Rafique, 14 Mohammad Asif

Asia Twenty20 team1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imran Nazir, 3 Mohammad Ashraful, 4 Shoaib Malik (capt), 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Mashrafe Mortaza, 11 Munaf Patel

I dont understand on what basis is Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh been selected, these are really funny selections

What do you guys say?