Team India eyeing series win at Edens

 

Second test match of the series between India vs. West Indies going to start on Monday 14th November, 2011 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Team India will go into this test match with series victory motto. On the other hand West Indies will look to tame the Indian team and will try to level the series. Hence, contest at Eden will become very interesting.

Team India won the Kotla test after conceding the  lead of 95runs in first innings and that must have given great confidence to this MS Dhoni lead team. Openers and middle-order batsmen except Yuvraj Singh had decent outing at Feroze Shah Kotla and got into the form very early which is very good sign. Bowlers did fantastic job for Indian team at Kotla and will certainly continue their good work at Edens as as well.

 Pitch will not be the same, as it was at Kotla, as per the curator of Eden. According to curator, pitch is hard with little shine on the top and will assist spinners on last two days of the test match which will definitely rejoice the West Indian pace battery but remember India also have a very decent pace attack at the moment and that will definitely come into play, if pitch will assist the pace bowlers. Ishant and Umesh bowled brilliantly at Kotla but without much luck, so they will definitely cherish the carry on the wicket. As far as spinners are concerned, I think bounce will assist them as well, especially R.Ashwin, who is tall and definitely use the bounce because of his height.

Everything went well for India in the end at Kotla but there were few jitters which haunted India on Day 2 of the Kotla test especially in batting and Indian batsmen have to be careful in approaching their batting and ensure that no batting collapse happen as it happened in Delhi in the first innings. India also have to plan the wicket of Shivnarine Chanderpaul because Chanderpaul is the man who has scored tons of runs against India and he simply loves batting against India. MS Dhoni and the team think-tank have to find the way to get Chanderpaul out without scoring too many runs. If Chanderpaul fell early then West Indies will not be able to score much runs.

This will also going to be a special test match for Sachin Tendulkar, if he succeeds in getting his epic hundred on  epic Eden Gardens. Epic ton of Tendulkar is much awaited among fans and cricketing fraternity but somehow it has not come so far. Let’s hope this epic ton comes at Eden. I also feel it is right time to try out Ajinkya Rahane or Virat Kohli in place of Yuvraj Singh which will give us fair idea about the new talent as well.

As far as West Indies is concerned, except Chanderpaul none of their batsmen clicked in Delhi and that is the irony of this new look West Indian team. Guys are young and this tour will going to be a good learning curve for these young West Indian players. Brathwaite, Kirk Edwards, Kieran Powell and Darren Bravo looks promising but failed to deliver so far and if West indies have to do well then all these batsmen have to score big runs and support Chanderpaul who is an anchor in this West Indian line-up. I think if West Indies promotes Chanderpaul at No.3, then this will certainly boost their batting because at the moment there is too much inexperience prevailing in that West Indian top-order. If Chanderpaul bats at No.3 then he will definitely guide the young batsmen and help them to score big runs which eventually help the cause of West Indian team but that is unlikely to happen and Chanderpaul will bat at No.5 for sure.

As far bowling is concerned, young leggie Bishoo had shown lot of promise but he has to convert his potential into performance because pitches are very supportive to the spinners atleast in sub-continent. I think if West indies drop one batsmen, either Kirk Edwards or Kieran Powell and go in with additional seamer Kemar Roach, then definitely their attack will look more potent. So according to me, they have to try 5 bowler formula.

Second test match at Eden will going to be an interesting affair as India will look to seal the series and West indies will try to tame the Indians and in between there will be an eye on great man who is on the verge of creating history.

Team India geared up to face Windies.

After disastrous 2 months in England where Indian team lost its No.1 ranking in tests, Indian cricket is back on track with 5-0 whitewash of England team in the home ODI series recently.  Now West Indies is in India to play 3 Tests and 5 ODIs and Indian is beaming with confidence to beat West Indians. Injured players returned to the side with full fitness and that will boost the team composition further. Induction of few youngsters in the team reflects the thinking of Indian selectors which clearly suggest that Indian Cricket is looking toward future.

It was nightmarish 2 months in England for MS Dhoni and his team but this team forgot that disaster and pulled itself back and now eager to challenge any team in the world once again.  This series against West Indies will give us idea who will be going to take the flight to Australia which is very important series for Indian Cricket. Everybody, from cricket experts to media created hype of Australian tour and forgot the West Indies series, but one must not forget that performance of Team India in the series against West Indies will give the correct idea of how Team India will going to perform in Australia, so series against West Indies is most important. This series is going to be a make or break series for few youngsters like Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, R.Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. If these guys come good in this series then I am sure Indian team will do well in Australia as well.

Rahane, Aaron and Yadav had a wonderful tour of Australia earlier this year with ‘India A’ team and they have the experience of playing in Australia which will going to benefit Indian team to an extent. But before that series, all important series against West Indies beginning tomorrow at Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi. It is important series for few stalwarts as well. Likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj and Sachin are going to make a comeback to the Indian team and they have to play out of their skins to get into the top form. This series although remembered for the long time if Sachin Tendulkar gets his epic 100th century in International cricket. Already there is talk about Sachin’s hundred and that’s the way this series is promoted by the media. But I think it is ridiculous to hype the series on one personal landmark. Such kind of hype will create pressure on Sachin Tendulkar, so according to me it is advisable to ignore this fact and look at it as normal series and leave great Tendulkar alone to achieve it.

This series is also in news because of the exclusion of Chris Gayle from the West Indian team. West Indies board once again ignored the giant  which certainly robbed little bit of competitiveness from the series. Without Gayle, West Indian team looks a club side but one must not forget that cricket is a funny game and anything can happen in this game. Who knows West indies get one more Gayle from this series. Although recent series against Bangladesh has given enough idea to the West Indian team about the conditions prevails in subcontinent and they will come well prepared so even without Gayle they will compete hard, no matter how their team is termed in media. There bowling have little upperhand compared to india because Indian team will go in with 3 debutant bowlers in this series.

Series against West Indies will going to be interesting and Indian team will look to dominate the series and try to regain its lost reputation in this Test Series. On the other hand it is going to be a rebuilding series for the West Indian team. Also I am certain that Indian team will not going to miss Harbhajan Singh after watching his performance in Ranji match against Uttar Pradesh, where he remained wicketless for 2 days.

Sri Lanka squandered advantage. India eager to start campaign with a win.

 

Sri Lanka controlled the game in first session of 2nd test match at Lords after winning the toss but failed to capitalise on a good start provided by their bowlers. Lankan bowlers proved Dilshan’s decision correct when they picked up 3 quick wickets upfront which included the wicket of in-form batsmen Jonathan Trott and Captain Strauss. But Cook had other ideas and he got perfect support from Ian Bell as duo helped England in reaching safe total. Matt Prior and Eoin Morgan further strengthen the position of England. Prior is still not-out and looking good to get another hundred. Bell, Cook and Morgan scored brilliant half-centuries. It was unfortunate that Cook got out on 96 and failed to get one more hundred but he certainly saved England from embarrassment.

Sri Lanka did everything right in first session but lost their way in second session  and they allowed England to claw back from the hopeless situation. Lankan bowlers however picked up six wickets at the end of first day but advantage is with England now as they are in comfortable position to dictate terms. Lankans really missed Malinga and Muralitharan and it was written all over on their day’s performance. Score was 22 when 3rd wicket fell but Lankans allowed England to get away with huge score at the end of first day. Tough times ahead for Lankans as series loss looming large over their head.

---

India eager to start campaign with a win.

Indian will start their Caribbean safari today with one off T20 games. On paper both teams are equal but in betting market India is favourite to win today’s contest.

Pitches in Caribbean are much like sub-continent nowadays and this will certainly help the Harbhajan & Co.  Looking at Indian team it has some exciting talent and this talent have to perform on this tour because this tour will decide future of these young cricketers. it’s a golden chance and needs to be grabbed with both hands.

India will open with Pathiv Patel and Shikhar Dhawan,that is sure. In middle–order India have players like Kohli and Raina who are in tremendous form and they will be supported by Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan and Badrinath. All these batsmen had a great IPL and will be looking to transfer their good form in International cricket. Who ever perform well on this tour will certainly get the ticket for England which will be following Caribbean tour. It will also test the captaincy skills of Suresh Raina who will be leading this Indian team 2nd time in his career. Duncan Fletcher have big challenge ahead of him.

Looking at bowling, India have only Ishant Sharma who is genuinely quick. Likes of Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar and Praveen Kumar are  swing bowlers. They will not get enough assistance from the slow low pitches of West Indies. According to me spinners will going to play big role on this tour as we all saw how Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal destoryed the West Indian batting recently.

Looking at West Indian side, they are bit below par in the absence of Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo. But they are in re-building phase and they will try out few youngsters against India. Among all the players Darren Bravo and Andre Russell looks like good talent. Apart from these two players West Indies have players like Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Devendra Bishoo, Marlon Samuels who can turn the tides in the favour of home team.

I think it is going to be an even contest considering both teams don’t have the services of their  frontline players.

---

The squads

Suresh Raina (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Subramaniam Badrinath, Yusuf Pathan, Virat Kohli,  Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, R Ashwin, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra and R.Vinay Kumar.

---

Darren Sammy (c), Christopher Barnwell, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Andre Fletcher (wk), Danza Hyatt, Ashley Nurse, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons.

---

International Cricket is back......

So IPL is over and its time for International Series. Sri Lanka already playing in England and lost the first test match dramatically and after that loss Sri Lankan media held IPL responsible for that loss. Now all eyes on 2nd test match starting tomorrow at Lords. Pakistan already played series in West Indies and Ireland. In West Indies Pakistan won the ODI series by 3-2 and square the 2  test match series. They white-washed Ireland in 2 match ODI series. 

Another series will start in couple of days,  between India and West Indies. This is first international series for Team India after their World Cup triumph. Indian team already reached West Indies where they will play 1 off T20, 5 ODIs and 3 test matches. Indian team which play in this  tour will not have the services few seniors who are out of the series. Some of them will skip T20 and ODIs. Some of them decided to skip entire tour on the account of injury and fatigue. Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag will skip entire tour due to injury while great Tendulkar decided to skip the entire  tour for spending time with his family. Regular Captain MS Dhoni and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan will skip only T20 and ODI series. They will join the team for  test series alongwith Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. s.Sreesanth is selected only for the test series. 

It is fact that West Indies team is not that great as it was in 70s and 80s. This West Indies team is one of the weakest and leaving out Taylor, Gayle and Pollard will certainly make it more vulnerable but  Indian team is also not playing to its full strength, so contest will be even. Also it is difficult to beat any team in their home conditions is always a challenge, so in that sense series becomes interesting. It is chance for Indian young guns to show their talent and pose big challenge to senior players position who opted out of this tour for various reason.

It is also interesting that none of the players will make debut in ODI series because all of them played for India in the past and didn't perform well. Shikhar Dhawan, Manoj Tiwary, R.Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha played for India earlier but failed to impress so its a second chance for them to prove their worth in the absence of seniors. Good performance in this series will certainly help few youngsters to feature in the series against England which will follow this series. 

Selectors have selected best possible team and good thing is that they did not selected players on the basis of IPL. Its good that players selected on this tour had very good domestic season behind them. However, Saurabh Tiwary of Jharkhand, Manish Pandey of Karnataka and Deepak Chahar of Rajasthan missed out unfortunately. These three players had a great domestic season but fortunes didn't favoured them because of the limited berth. Saurabh Tiwary also led the Jharkhand successfully in Vijay Hazare Trohpy and scored lot of runs in last season in domestic cricket.

India have the great chance of beating West Indies if they will play to their potential. I don't think this Indian team is second string team because all the players except Abhinav Mukund played in the past for the country and looking at West Indian team they are in process of rebuilding their team, so great chance lies ahead for Team India in Caribbean. Leaving out Chris Gayle will certainly going to hurt West Indies because he is a big player and he is in scintillating form right now. 

So Indian team is ready to dance on Calypso music? With this series India's new coach Duncan Fletcher will also make his debut as a coach of Indian Team and there is lot of hope in cricket lovers that will carry on the legacy of Gary Kirsten successfully. Suresh Raina also have lot to prove about his leadership skills in this series because last time he failed to lead this team successfully in Zimbabwe. Great challenge ahead of new coach and new captain.

New look West Indies will take on mercurial Pakistan

 

After success in one off T20 game new look West Indian team will take on mercurial Pakistan in 1st ODI at St. Lucia. Many big names will be missing from this ODI series which reduces its glamour but its a chance for new players to showcase their talent and establish themselves in their respective sides.

West Indies will not feature Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo in this ODI while Pakistan has not included  Umar Gul, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal. After loss in one off T20 game Pakistan will look to start this ODI series with a win while West Indies will be hoping of good performance from its youngsters. This series lost in hullaballoo of IPL but it is important series for West Indies and Pakistan. West Indies dropped players like Gayle, Sarwan Chanderpaul while Pakistan rested Younis Khan and Umar Gul.

Pakistan reached the semis of World Cup 2011 and playing very good cricket so far. While West Indies had disastrous World Cup campaign where they managed to reached the quarter-finals but couldn’t progress further. West Indian cricket  also got involved in controversy by dropping its star players especially Chris Gayle, who showed his form other night at Edens. It is important match and series for few youngsters from both the teams. From Pakistan Wahab Riaz, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Salman(WK) will be under radar. From West Indian perspective all eyes will be on Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Kirk Edward, Devendra Bishoo and Andre Russell.

Pitch at St. Lucia will be slower and certainly help the spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Devendra Bishoo will certainly play big role in this game. Pakistan got out of the controversy of match-fixing and now Afridi will certainly look to take this young Pakistani team  to new heights. While West Indies is building the side for future. Pakistan won 3 matches from last 5 they played while West Indies won 2 matches out of last 5. West Indies lost their last ODI against Pakistan in World Cup 2011 quarter-final at Mirpur and that give little edge to Pakistan but win in T20 game certainly given little hope to Darren Sammy and his boys.

---

Squads:

 1 Devon Smith, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Kirk Edwards, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Carlton Baugh (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Devendra Bishoo, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Ravi Rampaul

---

1 Taufeeq Umar, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Asad Shafiq, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Hammad Azam, 7 Mohammad Salman (wk), 8 Shahid Afridi (capt), 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Tanvir Ahmed, 11 Saeed Ajmal.

---

Confident KXIP will take on depleted Delhi at Kotla

 

Magical story of KXIP continues as they are now in top 4 on points table and what a performance against all expectations. 3 wins out of 4 is commendable achievement for the team which don’t have many stars. On the contrary Delhi Daredevils performance has been under scanner as they lost too many matches. 1 win from 4 matches is not good for the team which has players like Sehwag, Warner, Finch, Morne Morkel and Irfan Pathan.

Today Delhi will take on KXIP at Feroze Shah Kotla in Delhi. Daredevils in all sorts of trouble and their problems have been futher compounded because their captain and dashing opener Virender Sehwag failed to fire with the bat.  Delhi team is much better if compared to Kochi, Rajasthan or Punjab atleast on paper but their performance is not upto the mark. One of the main reason why Sehwag is not scoring, is the shoulder injury which he is carrying for a long time and this injury stops him from playing free flowing shots which he likes to play. So shoulder injury is hampering Viru’s performance but franchisee pressure and big money forcing him to play in IPL. Delhi’s top-order is very inconsistent and it is Venugopal Rao who comes in at No.5 is scoring most of the runs for them. Naman Ojha, David Warner, Aaron Finch, Irfan Pathan failed to make any impression with the bat so far. Delhi have to win today’s game at any cost, it will be going to be an uphill task because KXIP is in winning rhythm. They have to think of promoting in-form Venugopal Rao.

Looking at KXIP, its dream run for them. After loss in their 1st game of IPL everybody written-off KXIP, but what a surprise turnaround by them. After first loss they just kept on winning match after match and recorded hat-trick of victory. Names which were unknown before this IPL are suddenly in lime-light. Adam Gilchrist has done great job as a captain because it is very difficult to win the games with inexperienced and new players. Confidence of KXIP is sky high after 3 consecutive win. Valthaty is the one man who deserves big credit after Gilchrist, because his century against CSK given hopes to KXIP. Valthaty is orange cap holder and it is commendable achievement for any young cricketer. One more ‘Valthaty Special’ is expected today. KXIP now looks like a settled side and they are playing like a unit but on paper Delhi looks far more strong.

Great contest in offering as Delhi will be keen to break the shackles in this match and KXIP will try to continue their winning momentum.

---

Team Info:

Delhi Daredevils

Virender Sehwag (Captain), Irfan Pathan, Naman Ojha(Wicket-Keeper), Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav, Venugopal Rao, Aavishkar Salvi, Prashant Naik, Rajesh Pawar, Robin Bist, S Sriram, Tejashwi Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Varun Aaron, Vikash Mishra, Vivek Yadav, Yogesh Nagar, Shahbaz Nadeem (Foreign) David Warner, James Hopes, Morne Morkel, Aaron Finch, Mathew Wade, Roloef van der Merwe, Andrew McDonald, Travis Birt, Collin Ingram, Robert Frylinck. Greg Shipperd(Coach)

---

Team Info:

Kings XI Punjab

Dinesh Karthik(Wicket-Keeper), Abhishek Nayar, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Love Ablish, Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty, Shalabh Srivastava, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh, Vikramjeet Malik, Amit Yadav, (Foreign) Adam Gilchrist (Captain/Wicket-Keeper), Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Stuart Broad, Ryan Harris, Dimitri Masceranhas, Nathan Remington.Michael Bevan(Coach

---

Gayle Hurricane blew away Knights.

Finally RCB broke the shackles and registered their 2nd win in the tournament. Their gamble of playing Gayle also paid off as Gayle blew away his ex-team by hitting big booming sixes. He also gave befitting  reply to Kolkata Knight Riders and West Indian Cricket Board.

Chasing 171 of Kolkata score, RCB started their innings cautiously. First Dilshan opened his hands and hit few boundaries but once Gayle started hitting the ball, Kolkata bowling looked mediocre as none of the bowlers spared. It was Gayle show all the way as he scored brilliant century which included 7 towering sixes. He hit two of the longest sixes of the tournament as one of them gone 104 mt. far and another gone for 101 mt far.  Virat Kohli and Dilshan also played good innings but both innings over-shadowed by Gayle’s clean hitting. He literally massacred the Kolkata bowling and won the game single-handedly for RCB which was struggling to win the games before this match.

Earlier Kolkata fielded Brad Haddin in place Brett Lee. Haddin and Kallis opened the batting for Kolkata and both provided quick and solid start to the Knight Riders but just when they looked settled Haddin got out out to Aravind. Kallis and Gambhir continued their innings but soon Kallis  became victim of Daniel Vettori. Gayle took absolute blinder in covers to sent Kallis back. Pathan Joined Gambhir and both build fantastic partnership. Kolkata reached the score of 170 plus which looked like winning score on the pitch which turned square in previous matches and forced Gambhir to drop pacer like Brett Lee. Pathan once again played superb innings and scored brilliant half-century.Not playing Brett Lee in this match certainly back-fired.

But 170+ score couldn’t help Kolkata to win the game as the man called Gayle was in no mood to do anything silly and he left Shahrukh Khan with a question, why didn’t you pick me in the auction?  RCB won the match with 9 wickets.

Man of the Match

Chris Gayle

---

Mumbai Indians were too good for Super Kings

It was the match where bowling and batting of the both the teams were quite par but it was fielding which decided the fate of this match. Mumbai Indians fielded brilliantly and created the opportunities for themselves while Super Kings failed to grab the opportunities which came their way.

Dhoni won the toss for CSK and put Mumbai Indians into bat. Soon his decision gave him result as both Sachin and Sathish got out within six overs. Morkel and Bollinger bowled one of the best opening spell of the tournament. Mumbai again tried new opening partner with Sachin but  experiment  failed once again. Mumbai Indians are winning matches but they failed to find out perfect opening partner for Sachin so far. They tried David Jacobs, James Franklin, Ambati Rayadu and R.Sathish without any success. Rohit Sharma came in after Sachin’s departure and he had other ideas. He came in and took charge of the situation immediatley and played some gorgeous shot on a pitch which had some help for the seamers. It was Rohit’s brilliant innings which bailed Mumbai Indians from the shock of 2 early wickets. Ambati Rayadu also didn’t last long. But Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds stitched superb partnership and achieved the par score of 164. Bollinger was pick of the bowler for CSK as he kept the pressure on. Albie Morkel bowled well in his first spell of 3 overs. It was good bowling performance from CSK.

Chasing 165,  Murali Vijay once again failed to impress. Raina came and gone without troubling the scorers much as Harbhajan caught him off his own bowling and CSK lost their 2 wickets for 36 runs in 5 overs. Badirnath and Hussey kept CSK in hunt as both scored freely after early loss of Raina and Vijay. But Pollard who failed with the ball took brilliant catch of Hussey at short mid-wicket and opened the gate for Mumbai. Confidence of that catch also looked in Pollad’s next over as he sent back captain Dhoni cheaply who got out unluckily. Rohit Sharma took blinder at third-man to dismiss Dhoni. After that it was all Harbhajan show as he tormented CSK middle and lower order and ended up with IPL career best figures of 5-18. 3 wickets in space of 5 balls decided the fate of CSK. Badrinath played superb innings but did not get enough support from other end.

Finally CSK lost their 3rd match on a trot and Mumbai Indians are sitting on top with 8 points While CSK is 2nd from the bottom. Mumbai Indians also took perfect revenge of their last year’s IPL final loss.

Man of the Match

Rohit Sharma

West Indies vs Pakistan series kicked-off yesterday with T20 game. Schedule and Squad.

 

Important series between West Indies and Pakistan kicked-off yesterday with T20 game at Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia. New look West Indies team won this game and Pakistan failed to open the account with a win. Pakistan lost to the completely reformed West Indian team. It was great game of T20 which lost in hype of IPL.

It's just one match, which will fade into obscurity by the end of the next, but West Indies began their latest New Era impressively, beating Pakistan by seven runs in the first ever Twenty20 match between the teams. Lendl Simmons made 65 to help West Indies set a competitive total before Devendra Bishoo's four wickets brought them victory. It was Ottis Gibson's desperation for renewal after a disastrous World Cup campaign that five fresh players were included in the squad. Chris Gayle, the former captain, who vented his frustration with Gibson and the WICB by joining Royal Challengers Bangalore and issuing a withering assessment of both in a radio interview. The off-field wrangling dominated the build-up to the match and is likely to rumble on for some time to come but West Indies fans could at least enjoy a moment of win.

Such drama is familiar to Pakistan but of late they have been alarmingly stable. Their last game was a passionate spectacle against India in the World Cup semi-final in Mohali, so they could be forgiven for looking a little underwhelmed by St Lucia. Very few spectators showed up but those who did were on the ground, treated to an entertaining opening from Simmons. Filling the big hole left by Gayle's absence he scored 65 from 44 balls and shared a 99-run stand for the second wicket with a fluent Darren Bravo, who made 42.The pair struck 15 boundaries between them, which proved crucial as West Indies collapsed in familiar fashion after they were separated.

Darren Sammy ensured Pakistan's chase got off on the wrong foot as he had Mohammad Hafeez caught at fine leg for 3 before Ahmed Shehzad spooned Ravi Rampaul to mid-on for 12. Asad Shafiq tried to revive the Pakistan innings with Umar Akmal before Bishoo picked up  two wickets in his first over. Shafiq was nicely caught for 25 by Danza Hyatt at  midwicket, before Misbah-ul-Haq was dismissed for a golden duck while treading on his stumps a ball later.  Mixing his pace and flight nicely Bishoo got his third wicket when Shahid Afridi played a cut to point on 12 to leave Pakistan in sorts of trouble

Having reached a run-a-ball 41, Umar was victim to his own misunderstanding. The previous delivery he had alerted the umpires to a no-ball caused by West Indies not having the required three men in the ring but, thinking the following ball was a free-hit, swung Rampaul to Marlon Samuels on the square-leg boundary. Umar lingered but the umpires this time knew better.What should have been a doddle from there for West Indies became tense, as Rampaul's no-ball-ridden penultimate over cost 15, but Andre Russell held his nerve in the final over to seal victory.

The lacklustre showing from Pakistan's batsmen was in sharp contrast to Simmons and Bravo. Happy to use their feet, both were proficient against the pace and spin and used the small boundaries to good effect. West Indies passed 100 in the 13th over and looked set to post a really significant total but a trademark collapse punctured the optimism. Bravo holed out to long-on off Abdur Rehman before Simmons was run out by Samuels two overs later. Samuels, on his comeback after serving a two-year ban for alleged involvement with illegal bookmakers, endured a torrid time as he laboured to 4 from 11 balls before running past a Saeed Ajmal doosra. Sammy followed quickly for 1 and it needed a last-over boundary to take the total past 150. Pakistan looked to have the edge but Bishoo ensured otherwise.

It was indeed a great performance by new look West Indian team which proved selectors decision correct atleast in this match.

---

Pakistan have to play 5 ODIs and 2 Test Matches on this tour. ODIs will star from April 23, 2011.

Detailed Fixtures are as under:

Date	Time	Match	Venue
Mon Apr 18	10:00 local 19:30 IST	Uni. of WI Vice Chancellor's XI vs Pakistan	Mindoo Phillip Park, St Lucia
Thu Apr 21	09:30 local 19:00 IST	T20I - West Indies v Pakistan	Beausejour Stadium,  Gros Islet, St Lucia
Sat Apr 23	09:30 local 19:00 IST	1st ODI - West Indies v Pakistan	Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Mon Apr 25	09:30 local 19:00 IST	2nd ODI - West Indies v Pakistan	Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Thu Apr 28	09:30 local 19:00 IST	3rd ODI - West Indies v Pakistan	Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Mon May 2	09:30 local 19:00 IST	4th ODI - West Indies v Pakistan	Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Thu May 5	09:30 local 19:00 IST	5th ODI - West Indies v Pakistan	Providence Stadium, Guyana
Sun May 8 - Mon May 9	10:00 local 19:30 IST	TBC v Pakistanis	Bourda, Georgetown, Guyana
Thu May 12 - Mon May 16	10:00 local 19:30 IST	1st Test - West Indies v Pakistan	Providence Stadium, Guyana
Fri May 20 - Tue May 24	10:00 local 19:30 IST	2nd Test - West Indies v Pakistan	Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts

ODI Squads:

---

Shahid Afridi(Captain), Abdur Rehman,Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Hammad Azam, Junaid Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Salman(Wicket- Keeper), Sadaf Hussain, Saeed Ajmal, Tanvir Ahmed, Taufeeq Umar, Umar Akmal, Usman Salahuddin, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema.

---

Darren Sammy(Captain), Carlton Baugh, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Devnedra Bishoo, Kirk Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Anthony Martin, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Devon Thomas.

---

Pakistan reached Semi-Finals after crushing West Indies in Game 1 of QF

Well, easy and comprehensive win for the Pakistan over West Indies at Mirpur in Game 1 of knockout stage. Now Pakistan sailed into the semis where they will face either Australia or India at Mohali. Its been thoroughly professional display by Pakistan where they dominated the game right from the start and never allowed West Indies to claw back into the contest. It seems that Pakistan carried the momentum with them from the league stage has helped them nicely in achieving this win.

To me Shahid Afridi was the hero of Pakistan's victory as he continued his good work with the ball in this match as well by picking up another 4 wicket haul. He lead Pakistan from the front and help Pakistan to achieve this victory.  Apart from Afridi all the Pakistani bowlers joined the party and picked up wickets regularly which reduced West Indies to only 112 runs which was not the total, Caribbean team would have thought before the start of the match. Umar Gul once again looked impressive and Saeed Ajmal also grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Apart from Ajmal, Mohmmad Hafeez stood out among all the players because of his all-round performance with bat and ball and hats of to Afridi who believed in the ability of the Hafeez and given him chance to open the bowling  It was terrific bowling performance by the Pakistan.  Tough time ahead for the team which will meet them in semis at Mohali. Today Pakistan played flawless cricket.

Finally West Indies played Shivnarine Chanderpaul and he proved their most successful batsmen as he hung in till the last for West Indies and helped them to go past 3 figure mark. It was really valiant effort from seasoned campaigner like Chanderpaul. Had he got some support from the other end then West Indies would have certainly posted the competitive total on the board but pathetic batting display by Caribbean batsmen spoiled the day for all the Caribbean fans.

After putting small total on the board it was evident that Pakistan will going to win this game but it was expected that West Indies will give some fightback to the Pakistani batsmen considering weakness in Pakistan's batting  but Caribbean bowlers proved more disappointing than their batsmen and given too many runs to the Pakistan's liking and in the end Pakistan won by 10 wickets. Now West Indies will go to home and have to analyse their performance of this World Cup.

Pakistan will now take on the winner of Australia-India match at Mohali and it looks like  Pakistan is determine to win the elite trophy just to bring smiles on the grim faces of Pakistanis who are going through tough times. If Pakistan wins World Cup this time then it will wash away all their sins and controversies. 

Knockout round begins with Pakistan v/s West Indies

Group Stage is over and now ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is heading towards business end. Now on  teams have to win all the 3 matches they will be playing in order to become the champions of ODIs. Pakistan will face West Indies at Mirpur, Bangladesh in first game of knockout. Pakistan will certainly get lot of support in Mirpur  and they will feel themselves at home while playing in Mirpur which gives them little edge.

Pakistan played superb cricket during the group stage and surprised everybody. Captain of  Pakistan team, Shahid Afridi re-invented himself as a player in the tournament and lead from the front. I think whoever questioned his credentials as captain must have got their answers. Now if Pakistan go on to win the World Cup then it will be icing on the cake and Shahid Afridi will become national hero. Pakistan team just lost one game in group stage and emerged as topper in their group leaving Sri Lanka and Australia behind. Although Pakistan topped the group but unpredictability still prevails and good example of that is the loss against New Zealand. So their victory in the quarter-final cannot be taken for granted.

Pakistan showed good team-work during the group stage and every member of the team contributed towards the good performance of team. Waqar Younis must be a happy man as of date but there are lot problems also which Waqar Younis and Shahid Afridi have to address and rectify them. Pakistan's top-order failed in the group stage badly and there was lot of chopping and changing happened so they have to go in with correct batting line-up.  They have to promote Kamran Akmal as opener along with Asad Shafiq because Akmal was their opener in many matches and use Mahammed Hafeez at No.3. They have to promote Umar Akmal as well to No.4 because he is too good player and simply wasted at No.6. This move will allow experienced campaigners like Younis Khan and Misbah Ul Haq to control the game and make that middle-order strong. Apart from that Afridi and Razzak have to shoulder some responsibility with the bat. Afridi is very talented with the bat but he is not taking his batting seriously and thats where Pakistan face problems. Against Australia in a league match Pakistan was near to the victory and sensible cricket was required there but Afridi came in and played reckless shot which was not required according to the match situation. Although Pakistan won that game but that shot could  have easily gone against the Pakistan aslo. So Afridi have to be sensible and bat according to the situation if he wants to win the elite trophy.

Pakistan bowling is good and doing well in the tournament. Afridi is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament and he is spearhead of Pakistan bowling. Umar Gul and Razzak are supporting Afridi very well and if they include Shoaib Akhtar in tomorrow's match then they will prove more dangerous to their opposition. They have big problems with Kamran Akmal's wicket-keeping as poor guy kept dropping catches throughout the tournament. Pakistan's lost to New Zealand only because of the dropped catches. However Kamran Akmal showed the signs of improvement in the match against Australia where the took few catches and this will give him some confidence. 

West Indies entered into the knockout stage only because Bangladesh had poor run-rate as both Bangladesh and West Indies shared the same points at the end of group stage. During group stage West Indies failed to beat top teams like South Africa, England and India so their is big question-mark on their capabilities to beat the top teams. They must be happy that they are playing Pakistan in Quarter-Finals which has unpredictability factor attached so  West Indies also have equal chance of winning the match only on the basis of Pakistan's unpredictability. West Indies although don't have many big names but they certainly possess two or three explosive batsmen in their ranks who can change the course of  game. Chris Gayle missed out against India due to injury so it will will be interesting to see whether he will play or not but West Indies must be keen to  play 80% fit Chris Gayle and that will give big boost to their batting line-up.  They also have to promote Keiron Pollard to No.4 and give him more overs because he is one player who can win games single-handedly. Youngster like Bravo, Edward, Russell have to support their senior pros if West Indies wants to march ahead in the tournament. Inclusion of Shivnarine Chanderpaul will bolster their batting ad they need experience in the middle-order badly.

Bowling of West Indies is quite good and they have found new teeth in Ravi Rampaul who bowled superbly against India and picked up his first 5 wicket haul. Return of Kemar Roach will certainly bolster their bowling and leg-spinner Bishoo has done well in the tournament. Only worry for the West Indies is the form of Sulieman Benn who failed to impress in entire tournament. If West Indies drop Benn from the team in crucial encounter then it will not surprise anybody and they have to drop him to accommodate Kemar Roach.

Mirpur is a venue which supports spinners because of its slow and sluggish pitch and that will give definite advantage to Pakistani spinners and West Indian batsmen looks vulnerable against the spin. So good encounter in the prospect and Pakistan will certainly go in this match with advantage.