Is it going to be a Valthaty show once again? KXIP vs RR

 

Jubilant Priety Zinta owned and Gilchrist led KXIP will take on Warnie’s Royals at Mohali tonight. KXIP is full of confidence after two consecutive victories and Rajasthan is bit disappointed after 2 losses at the hands of KKR and washed out match against RCB where they shared the points with RCB.

If we look at KXIP it was not considered best team at the start of the tournament. They also started their IPL 4 campaign with a loss but after that 1st game, their turnaround is superb and credit largely goes to young rising star Paul Valthaty whose all-round performance helped KXIP to put up a brilliant show. Captain Gilchrist also got among the runs in the last match where he struck beautiful half-century and reminded spectators about his glorious past and proved that he is still great with the bat. KXIP now looks quite formidable and T20 is such a format where any team have the chance to win the game. KXIP also have reasonable bowling attack. Praveen Kumar has made a great comeback through IPL after missing the World Cup due to injuries. Ryan Harris and Piyush Chawla are also very good bowlers. So KXIP have the flavour to do well in today's game. However, form of Shaun Marsh is bit of concern who is their mainstay in batting after Gilchrist and Valthaty.

Talking about Rajasthan Royals, it is also owned by one of the Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. Rajasthan Royals started its IPL 4 campaign by winning first two matches but after that they lost their way somewhat. They lost 2 games consecutively against reformed KKR and their last match against RCB was washed out due to rain and they shared the points with RCB. RR is still in Top 4 and their situation is not that bad. If they win today they can get the momentum. They have better team on-paper compared to KXIP. The have likes of Watson, Dravid, Ross Taylor, Johan Botha, Shaun Tait, etc. in their ranks and with Warne performing, just add the little bit more spice to the Rajasthan Royals.I think they have to change their bowling and bring in Deepak Chahar in place of Amit Singh who looked out of sorts in last 2 matches. Chahar is young and waiting for his opportunity. Considering today’s game Rajasthan Royals have little bit edge over KXIP.

It going to be cracker of the contest and it will be interesting to see Valthaty continues his good show or not.

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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

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Team Info:

Rajasthan Royals

Rahul Dravid, Pankaj Singh, Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Paunikar, Ashok Menaria, Deepak Chahar, Dishant Yagnik, Faiz Fazal, Nayan Doshi, Pinal Shah, Samad Fallah, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny, Amit Singh, Dinesh Salunkhe, Swapnil Asnodkar, Sumit Narwal, Ankeet Chavan (Foreign) Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Johan Botha, Paul Collingwood, Shaun Tait.Shane Warne(Coach/Captain).

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Pune lost 2nd consecutive game. Mumbai’s good run continues.

Indeed a very good match and lasted till last ball. Yuvraj won the toss and elected to bat first but Mumbai wicket offered little bit more assistance to the bowlers this time. Mumbai bowlers took full advantage of the wicket. Harbhajan was rested from the game because of little and his replacement Abu Nechim grabbed the opportunity with both hands as he got the dismissed the inform Pune opener Jesse Ryder in his first over. He went on to pick up 2nd wicket and this early loss never allowed Pune to recover as Munaf Patel and Malinga further jolted the Pune batting. Captain Yuvraj failed miserably today as he got out on the 2nd ball he faced. Utthappa played very good innings and given some hope to Pune Warriors but he too lost his wicket at crucial juncture and ultimately Pune Warriors bowled out cheaply. Looking at the condition of wicket, it looked like Pune Warriors will stop Mumbai Indians before the target.

Mumbai opened with Franklin who replaced Jacobs in this match but he did not lasted long and soon got out. Ambati Rayadu and Sachin Tendulkar kept doing their good work and stitched the partnership but Sachin lost his wicket by playing unnecessary shot on pitch which had something in it for the bowlers. Sachin first time got out in this edition of the IPL. Ambati Rayadu soon followed Sachin and got out but till that time Mumbai reached the doorstep of victory. Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds won the game for Mumbai.

Man of the Match

Munaf Patel

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Kochi registered 3rd consecutive win in a near thriller

Orange colour is on high since last 3 matches. They humbled Mumbai and Chennai earlier and yesterday they stopped the winning streak of KKR at Edens. It was completely a team work which helped Kochi in registering their 3rd consecutive win and now they are in Top 4 on points table with 6 points.

Ravindra Jadeja came up with a brilliant all-round display to help the resurgent Kochi Tuskers Kerala halt Kolkata Knight Riders three-match winning run with a narrow six-run victory in a low-scoring Indian Premier League clash here on Wednesday.Jadeja was the star for the Kochi team as he scored 29 from 18 balls to help his team post 132 for seven and then scalped two wickets as the Tuskers restricted the Knight Riders to 126 for nine at the Eden gardens here. Gambhir won the toss and put Kochi into bat, Kochi had a flying start, thanks to the in-form pair of Brendon McCullum and Mahela Jayawardene but the Knight Riders restricted them to 132 for seven with a fine bowling effort by Yusuf Pathan  and Shakib-Al-Hasan. Defending the total, the Tuskers bowlers Jadeja , Rudra Pratap Singh  did a tidy job and was supported well by their bowling colleagues as Kochi halted Kolkata's three-match winning run at the Eden Gardens here.

Chasing a modest 133, Knight Riders needed to play sensible cricket but the hosts made a mess of the seemingly low score getting themselves out one by one.Three quick wickets from three overs  Jacques Kallis , Gautam Gambhir  and Manvinder Bisla  put Knight Riders in a spot of bother.Knight Riders batting mainstay Kallis became victim of a Vinay Kumar short ball, while in a space of five balls Gambhir saw his middle stump shattered by his former India teammate RP Singh Brought in place of Thisara Perera, Muralitharan returned with one wicket but he held the Knight Riders batsmen together giving away 18 runs from his four overs quota. Just when the duo of Tiwary and Morgan were looking to set the platform, a fine fielding effort by skipper Mahela Jayawardene ran Morgan out to break their 36-run partnership from 38 balls.However, undeterred Tiwary hit two fluent boundaries off RP but only to see Shakib getting bowled at the other end in the same over.Pathan, who hurt his knee while taking the catch of Jadeja, came in with a runner and the big-hitter showed his intention with a big six of Powar before being dismissed in the next ball, in what seemed to be a decisive blow for the Knight Riders.Tiwary, who looked at ease all this while, was then outfoxed by a smart wide ball by Jadeja and was stumped.

With Tiwary gone and Knight Riders at 101/7, it was just a formality for the Tuskers to complete the victory.

Man of the Match

Ravindra Jadeja

 

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Prevew: QF-2 Litmus test ahead for the Aussies against Indians at Motera.

Thursday is going to be a D-Day for India as well as Australia. One will succeed in achieving their goals another one will go home . 4 time champions and 3 consecutive time winners of the World Cup trophy, can Aussies pass the litmus test? According to law of averages they will fail but you never count them out because they are virtually invincibles. For India, Champion of 1983 edition, this is the biggest occasion to show the world that they are the top side in the World and they are still favourites to win the trophy. Its a final before the final. Its revenge time for India. Its time to settle few old scores which is haunting Indian team and Indian cricket for very long. Its time to break the arrogance of the most arrogant team in the world. Will Dhoni and his men do it?

It is the ground where history created many times. Legendary Sunil Gavaskar reached his  landmark of 10000 runs and became first cricketer to achieve that feat. Kapil Dev broke the record of highest wickets of Sir Richard Hadlee on this very ground when he claimed 432nd wicket. This ground also witnessed first double century of Sachin Tendulkar in test cricket. So as far as records are concern Motera ground is happy hunting ground for the Indians but their ODI record is poor on this ground as they lost 7 matches out of 13. So this record is speaking against Indians.

India possess best batting line-up in the World  at the moment but that batting failed to an extent in the tournament so far. Tendulkar and Sehwag are among the highest run-getters but middle-order failed to impress so far and often Indian batting collapsed in the tournament after getting into good positions. I think India have to rectify that and they have to sort out the 'Powerplay Ghost' immediately because thats where Team India is losing the plot. But there is good thing that Team India is collapsing after reaching good scores and that will give them some solace when they take on mighty Aussies at Motera in Ahmedabad. So far India played on the venues where they got flat pitches and Motera will  not going to be different one. 

Indian batting will get some more strength with the return of its swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag who missed the last group stage game against West Indies due to allergic reaction in the knee. Sehwag's sheer presence on the crease is enough to demoralise the opposition. Who can forget his 83 run innings against Australia in 2003 World Cup finals at Johannesburg. He was the only batsmen who took on mighty Aussies in that game. So top-order batting is not that bigger concern for India it is middle-order and lower-order which has failed to score runs when required. 

India's bowling was considered its weakest link and it was matter of concern till the match against West Indies  but with the inclusion of R. Ashwin it has certainly got teeth to its attack. So far Zaheer Khan was the lone warrior but now he will get good enough support from Ashwin and Harbhajan has also showed the signs of improvement since last few matches, so bowling is no more weak link. One can also keep in mind that so far Indian bowlers bowled on the flat tracks where opposition bowlers were also gone for plenty so I think in Ahmedabad if Indian bowlers will go for runs then Aussie bowlers will also leak plenty of runs. I think more than bowling Dhoni have to work on the field placings because field placings often affect the bowler's performance. So far Dhoni set defensive fields and never tried to attack the  opposition batsmen and thats where India faltered. I think Dhoni have to be offensive in the field placings. I think Harbhajan and Ashwin must have silly point, slip and a short leg when they are bowling. Dhoni have to keep atleast 5 fielders in the ring  in order to stop the quick singles so that will create pressure on opposition batsmen to go for big shots and that    will give chance to the bowlers to pick up wickets. So field placings have to be spot-on and no easy singles for the opposition batsmen if India wants to stop its opposition from getting big score.

Aussies are coming into match with a defeat under their belt at the hands of Pakistan. Pakistan broke their consecutive 34 matches winning streak in the World Cup and Australians will be over-cautious in the match against India. Form of captain Ricky Ponting is big concern for Australia but he is a big match player and he is one innings away from hitting the form and its possible that he hits the form against India because he was the one who scored 140 runs of 121 balls against India in 2003 World Cup finals which eventually Australia won. So Aussies must be expecting similar kind of innings from Ponting at Motera if they want to go into semis. Motera wicket will be a belter and it will give good opportunity to Ricky Ponting to score half-century or century. So India have to be cautious of that and try to pick Ricky as early as possible. Brett Lee and Shane Watson are the back-bone of Australian team. If these two will perform to their potential in this crucial game then Australia will certainly win this game. Brett Lee is the only bowler who got Sachin Tendulkar out 14 times in 39 games most by any bowler in the world. So Sachin v/s Lee will going to be mouth-watering contest.

Australia have few middle-order batting issues like India and their middle-order have to click at any cost at Motera. If their midlle-order fails which often happened in the tournament so far then this will going to be their last match in this World Cup. Another problem is their spin department. They don't have quality spinner in their ranks who can run through the side which is required badly in the sub-continental conditions. They must be missing Shane Warne badly as Jason Krezja failed to impress so far and Steve Smith, the leg-spinner has been not utilized much by Ponting. So big headache  for Ponting as far as spin bowling is concern and Aussies batsmen themselves are vulnerable against spinners. If we talk about Shaun Tait and Mitchel Johnson then Tait looked liability so far  and Johnson has picked up wickets but in patches as there is no consistency seen in Johnson's bowling and flat wicket of Motera will not serve very well to the Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson. Ponting have to come out with innovative plans to tackle strong Indian batting line-up other wise high scoring game is on cards at Motera.

This is the contest which cricket lovers waiting for a while and it will be interesting to see who will advance to the semis because it is evenly balanced contest.

Group of Death has made Cricket World Cup 2011 interesting.

Group of death is open and interestingly poised with the victory of England over West Indies. England did everything right from winning the toss to batting first and posting more than par total on a pitch which have the reputation of rank turner. Although match got interesting with opening onslaught from Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy but fall of regular wickets didn't help the cause of West Indies. Andre Russell gave some hope later in the innings with good clean hitting but West Indies lost too many wicket upfront, so they couldn't sustain the pressure and ended on losing note.

Andrew Strauss and his men got the oxygen they required to stay in the tournament with a win over West Indies. Had they lose yesterday they would have been packing their bags right now to go home but to their credit they were lucky with the toss, played superb cricket and also got little help from the West Indies in the field. England's journey in this World Cup is like Hitchcock's story. It is full of thrill, suspense and drama. Now with the victory over West Indies hopes of England are alive and tomorrow if Bangladesh lose to South Africa which is most likely then England will go into QFs and from here onwards I won't be surprised if England go on and win the trophy as well. Remember Pakistan was in similar situation in 1992 World Cup and won the trophy.

Tough time ahead for West Indies and they have to win against India and they also have to pray for South Africa's victory over Bangladesh with big margin. If Bangladesh win tomorrow then Bangladesh will qualify and  West Indies have to win the game against India at any cost and if Bangladesh lose with big margin against South Africa then West Indies don't feel  much pressure going into the game against India. So far West Indies won matches against minnows in this World Cup and they lost to big teams like South Africa and England which will not put them in good mental state and they will be under tremendous pressure because one more mistake can result into their exit from the tournament. So they will be hoping to do well against India and  have to pray for Bangladesh defeat against Proteas.

All of sudden match between South Africa and Bangladesh became very important and this is the match which will going to decide the fate of West Indies, England and India too an extent. So in short South Africa holds the key because South Africa is already qualified for QFs and their win or loss against Bangladesh will not matter much to them but that result will decide who will go into QFs apart from South Africa. World Cup started on a dull note but as it getting closer to the business end it has become more and more interesting. I think first time in the history it will happen that cricket lovers of England, West Indies and India will be praying for South Africa's win.

Really cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties.

Cricket is a game of Glorious uncertainties, World Cup of unexpected results

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 started with glittering ceremony in Dhaka on 17th February and games started from 19th February since then lot of games played but most of them were boring especially matches involving minnows but this World Cup also provided us lot of excitement in terms of unexpected results of many games. Now we are heading towards business end of the tournament but  Group B is still open and who will make it to the Quarter-FInals  is depending on lot of permutations. But here are the few matches which lived upto the expectations of the people but results were unexpected.

It all started with Group B match between India and England where India were considered favourites to win the game and after scoring 338 nobody expected of loss or a tie but   match turned into hard fought contest and ended in a tie against everybody's expectations.

The next match which turned out very exciting and given unexpected result was the match between England and Ireland where everybody expected England to win and after scoring more than 300 runs England were firm favourites to win that contest but 'cometh the hour, cometh the man'. Kevin O'Brien of Ireland washed all the hopes of England won the game for his country single-handedly.

Next match comes to the mind was the match between England and South Africa. Everybody expected South Africa to win this contest and it also confirmed by the lunch time that South Africa win this game after restricting England to 170 odd runs but South Africa choked under pressure and lost this game against everybody's expectations.

Another match which resulted into unexpected outcome was the match between England and Bangladesh. England were favourites to win this contest and Bangladesh fought hard and won this game leaving England in situation where they are on the doorstep of exit from the tournament.

In all the above four matches Team England is the common factor and their situation is in complete jeopardy and now they have to win against West Indies at any cost and that too with big margin and they also have to depend on result of other team's matches  in order to qualify for the Quarter-Finals

The match between Bangladesh and West Indies also saw unexpected result. Looking at the current ICC ranking West Indies is below Bangladesh and everybody considered Bangladesh favourites to win the contest but against all expectations West Indies won this match convincingly leaving Bangladesh in complete disarray.

Match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan also yielded unexpected result. Before the start of tournament Sri Lanka were one of the strongest contenders to win the title and Pakistan were underdogs but the match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka turned all equations wrong. Pakistan won this game against everybody's expectations.

New Zealand were considered weakest team among all the test playing nations before the start of tournament and their drubbing at the hands of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan prior to the World Cup confirmed that but to everybody's surprise Kiwis lifted their game in the match against Pakistan and defeated them. The team which won all its 3 games in World Cup before this match lost to Kiwis thanks to the dropped catches.

So cricket is a game of great uncertainties and in this World Cup it proved once again. Expecting some more unexpected results from the remaining matches.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 This Week(5/03/2011–11/03/2011)

10th ICC Cricket World Cup started on 19th Feb, 2011 and since then lot of action happened on-field and off-field. Here is the summary of all the action happened during 3rd week of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

1.	West Indies team attacked by local fans in Bangladesh after their victory over Bangladesh.
2.	Stones pelted by the fans on the homes of Bangladeshi cricketers for losing the match poorly against West Indies
3.	ICC tweaked controversial 2.5 cm rule after criticism from the experts. New guidelines: the 40cm (the distance covered by the ball between pitching and hitting the pads) and the 2.5metre graphic appear for the same delivery, the batsman will have to be given not out. And if “more than 2.5m” graphic appears without the 40cm graphic, the third umpire will be informed by Hawk-Eye about the exact distance of impact from the stumps. If this distance is greater than 3.5m, the batsman will remain not out.
4.	Ross Taylor scored 62 runs in just 16 balls in a match against Pakistan which included 7 towering sixes and went on to complete his century.
5.	New Zealand scored 92 runs in last 4 overs against Pakistan.
6.	Sachin Tendulkar crossed one more milestone. He completed 2000 runs in World Cup and became the first batsmen to do so with a healthy average of 57.09.
7.	Yuvraj Singh became first player to pick up 5 wicket haul and scoring half-century in  the same match in World Cup.
8.	Yuvraj Singh’s 5-31 against Ireland is the best bowling figures for any left-arm spinner in a World Cup.
9.	Casaulty list increased for England this weak as star batsmen Kevin Pietersen and fast bowler Stuart Broad ruled out of the World Cup due to poor health and inury reasons. Pietersen has been replaced by Eoin Morgan and Chris Tremlett replaced Stuart Broad.
10.	Asutrlia replaced  injured Doug Bollinger  with Michael Hussey.
11.	Imran Tahir, one of the finds of the tournament broke his left thumb in the Proteas' World Cup defeat to England. This is big blow to the South Africa as he is their most successful bowler in this World Cup so far.
12.	Niall O’Brien of Netherlands lost his bag which was containing six Gary Nicollas bat but lost bag found soon from Indian team’s luggage.
13.	Harbhajan Singh’s bowling woes continued as he failed to pick up even one wicket this week.
14.	Shaihd Afridi is the leading the bowlers in this World Cup with 15 wickets under his belt which includes two 5 wicket hauls after 3rd Week.
15.	Andrew Strauss of England emerged as highest run scorer after 3rd Week with total of 298 runs.
16	Match between Sri Lanka and Australia was abandoned due to  rain Australia did not get the chance to bat in the World Cup since Feb.25.
17	Eoin Morgan became 3rd cricketer to represent two different countries in the World Cup as he represented Ireland in the last World Cup and representing England in this World Cup.
18	As many as 332 Boundaries and 42 Sixes hit in the World Cup in 9 matches played so far in 3rd week.

Super Sunday lived upto the expectations of cricket lovers

England won cliffhanger against Proteas.

There was lot of talk about England's loss to Ireland prior to this match and cricket pundits written-off England completely and announce that England will go home this time without reaching even quarter-finals. These words also got the support from the England's batting against Proteas at Chennai where Proteas bowled out England for only 171 after English  captain Strauss won the toss and elected to bat on a rank turner against the side which was heavily loaded with spinners. Writing was on the wall for England when Smith and Amla given solid start to the Proteas innings and at one stage Proteas were 63 for 0 but in came transformation and suddenly game started changing and given some belief to the Englishmen of winning this game when they cleaned skipper Smith. Englishmen capitalize on this big breakthrough and soon picked up wickets of Amla and Kallis who were playing well till that time and victory was just looking very near for the Proteas. 

Once Amla and Kallis got out middle-order of Proteas collapsed badly and from 124 for 3  Proteas reached 124 for 6 in a space of  few overs and once again Proteas firmly confirmed their chokers tag. Steyn and Wan Vyk tried hard to get Proteas out of the difficult situation but English bowlers and fielders were too good in the field, kept the pressure, picked up wickets when it mattered the most and had a last laugh after the match. Pitch was turning left-right-center and Englishmen utilized the conditions better than the Africans and pull off the cliffhanger and left Proteas in a disarray. A contest which started in a dull manner gripped the spectators in the second-half and provided thrilling entertainment to the cricket lovers. England won it by 6 runs in the 49th over. Who says one-day cricket is boring? It was a match which you want to watch again and again if you are true cricket lover. 

England have to work hard on their batting skills. They have to find out ways and means to play on turning tracks and against the spinners if they want to advance further in the tournament and have to learn quickly because they will get the similar pitches and conditions everywhere in the sub-continent. Kevin Pietersen is out of the World Cup and this is big blow to the English side and they have to find out suitable replacement. If Eoin Morgan is fit then they have to include him in the squad.

For Proteas, result from this match is unexpected and they were favourites to win this contest but once again they choked under pressure and lost it from the position of strength. Lot of work ahead for the Smith and Co.   Form of Jacques Kallis with the bat is big worry for them and Kallis have to come good in the next match which is against India if Proteas wants to make a mark in the tournament. Before this match they looked unbeatable but match against England changed it all for them and its good that they lost the match so early in the tournament. Now they can analyse their mistakes and will sort out all the problems. I think this match was big eye-opener for them. The are the most balanced side in this World Cup and expected to go through the later stages of the tournament but they have to come out of the mental problem of choking under pressure which is associated with them since their re-entry in the International Cricket.

India tame Ireland

Big hype, lot of drama, superb performance by minnows and under-pressure Indian batting was the ingredients of this match but in the end India won it without much hiccups. This match lived upto its hype and Irish team spread lot of jitters in the Indian batting line-up after getting out for 207. Irish team bowled well and fielded well and provided tough fight to the Indians on a pitch which was having something in it for the bowlers. Irish supporters once again got something to cheer about.

Dhoni won the toss and against all expectations, he decided to field first, a decision which was forced after Irish batting performance against England. Irish team lost its 2 wicket quite early and Zaheer Khan once again became nemesis of top-order batsmen as he picked 2 quick wickets up-front. But captain Porterfield and Niall O'Brien stopped the wickets fall and build record partnership  for the 3rd wicket and provided solidity to the Irish innings but once Niall O'Brien got out wickets fell at regular intervals and finally Irish team got all-out for just 207 runs a score which looked like piece of cake for the so-called best batting line-up in the world. Irish hero of the last match, Kevin O' Brien failed to do any damage in this match and go out cheaply. Yuvraj Singh ended with career best bowling figures of 5-31 which is a record in World Cup for any left-arm spinner. The problem Team India to sort out is the collapse of top-order in slightly testing conditions which was evident in this match.

Indian innings started with a disaster as Sehwag and Gambhir got out cheaply and given some hopes tot Irish team. Irish team bowled well and reduced Team India to 100-4 which included big wicket of 'CRICKET GOD' Sachin Tendulkar and created lot of excitement in the match. Here on captain Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh started playing sensibly and stopped the further damage by building good partnership. This partnership steadied the Indian innings but once again this match witnessed the twist when Dhoni got out and India still needed 41 runs to win from 10 overs. Irish created some panic in Indian camp with the wicket of Dhoni but in came Pathan who massacred the Dockrell by hitting him all over the park and made the run chase easy for Team India. Pathan made 30 valuable runs and Yuvraj Singh ended with brilliant half-century  and sealed the Indian victory quite easily after all the drama. I think Dhoni have to think about Piyush Chawla after this match as he failed to deliver on a pitch which suited the spinners. This was second consecutive match where Chawla given more than 8 runs an over and failed to pick-up single wicket on a pitch which provided 5 wickets to the non-regular left-arm spin bowler like Yuvraj Singh.

Team India must be feeling like out of jail after this match and I must appreciate the Irish team's performance, they fought hard and spread the jitters in the Indian camp I feel ICC must make Ireland regular cricketing nation allow them to play atleast  ODIs and T20s after their performance in this World Cup. This will definitely help in the growth of Irish cricket. Irish team can improve a lot if they get to play International cricket regularly against the big teams.

So Super-Sunday of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 lived upto the expectations of cricket lovers and provided lot of entertainment and excitement.

India and England locked in a tie after cliffhanger

Sachin Tendulkar scored brilliant 47th century in ODI once again and created new record of most centuries in the World Cup. This century also took him one step near to the great landmark of 100 centuries in International Cricket. Andrew Strauss played scintillating innings of 158 with some luck. Supporting characters tried hard and created big drama but all these great efforts ended without reaching their destination. How often we see such a great cricket match where records tumbled, which fought hard till the last ball with fortunes fluctuating from one side to other and in the end, no side end up fortunate enough to win the contest and what about the spectators, they get their money's  but in the end they have to go home without witnessing  desired climax of the story which kept them tied to their seats for almost 8 hours.

Yesterday night Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru witnessed the contest which made World Cup alive after a week of its inception. India and England performed brilliantly with the bat but failed to make a mark in bowling and fielding. World Cup 2011 needed this kind of match badly after one week of boring cricket. Both teams given runs like they are playing in a charity match on a surface which had nothing for the bowlers. But I feel in all this run galore both captains made few mistakes which deprived them from winning this great contest. Dhoni did not attack Englishmen too much. Strauss made a mistake by continuing with Anderson in death overs even after he went for plenty of runs. Both teams fielded poorly.

If we talk about Dhoni, I already mentioned about his defensive techniques in my earlier posts and once again he repeated the same mistakes and then cried foul over one decision which went against his team. I think when you score 338 runs then 9 out of 10 times you win but for that you have to use attacking strategy and Dhoni failed to attack English batsmen even after putting mammoth score on the board. He opened the field for English batsmen to pick-up easy singles and did not force them to make a mistake. Pietersen, Strauss and Bell took full advantage of Dhoni's strategy and kept picking up singles and odd boundaries without taking any big risk. Dhoni is repeating the same mistakes again and again and because of which Indian team lose the crunch matches. He made mistakes in South Africa where he set defensive field in Test Matches as well as in ODIs and that resulted into drawn test series and ended up losing the ODI Series 3-2 to Proteas.

When Dhoni will understand the importance of blocking the singles? In this match it was evident that Dhoni made a mistake by not attacking the English batsmen. Had Strauss not taken that 3rd Batting Power Play then England would have easily won but because Strauss took the Power Play and Dhoni was forced to bring the field in, immediately India team gripped the game by picking up 2 quick wickets because singles were dried up and that forced Bell and Strauss to play rash shots which resulted into their downfall and eventually match ended in tie. Big lesson for Dhoni and his team for the coming matches. Dhoni have to attack there is no other option. If you want to win a game then you have to pick up wickets otherwise you will face the music of opposition batsmen who will make mockery of the defensive field and easily collect the runs and keeps the pressure of run-rate away form them like Bell and Strauss did yesterday and almost took the game away from India.

As far as Strauss and England are concerned, I think they were bit lucky to tie this game not because they batted brilliantly but Indian captain and bowlers turned deaf and did not appeal even after Strauss edged the ball when he was on 3 and 111. I think Strauss made a big mistake of taking Power Play at wrong time. They were picking up 8-9 runs easily in the middle-overs but could not resist themselves from going bang-bang by taking Power Play and finish the match in style but to their misfortune, tactic of taking Power Play went against them and they almost reached on the verge of losing the game from the position of strength. Zaheer bowled brilliantly in the Power Play and picked up crucial wickets of Bell and Strauss on successive deliveries . In the next over he picked up Collingwood by cleaning his off-stump and gave India advantage to win the game but once again lack-luster Indian fielding came onto the scene and Indian fielders allowed Englishmen to convert the singles into twos and match resulted into the tie.

I don't say India's bowling was that bad in this match. I must say poor strategy of Dhoni and fielding deprived India from great victory. As far as Strauss is concerned bowling and fielding is big worry for him and have to work hard  on fielding and bowling before next match if he wants his team to sail into quarters and semis. India also have problems in plenty with the fielding and strategy and have to rectify the mistakes immediately otherwise they will end up on losing side once again. For India, Yuvraj's return in form is a very good sign and this can be a big advantage in coming matches but remember only batting can't win matches.

I must say this match certainly lived upto its big hype which was created in its build up.

Englishmen take on Indians on Sunday. Preview: India V/s England

After series of losses against Australia down-under and surviving near scare of loss from Netherlands in their first match, English team is raring to do well against India in their first high-profile match of the World Cup in Bengaluru on Sunday. All they injury hit bowlers are fit and ready to go after the Indian batting. England has already declared their strategy of bouncing the Indian batsmen and their bowlers are capable of doing that but the pitch of Chinnaswamy Stadium will allow them to do so is a big suspense. 

In warm-up match between India and Australia, Chinnaswamy pitch turned a lot and created lot of problems for the Aussie batsmen and remember English batsmen are not known for playing the spin well. So interesting to see what kind of combination Englishmen will try in the match against India on Sunday. English team is missing Eoin Morgan very much because he is the one player who keeps the scoreboard rolling and very dangerous batsmen in later half of the innings. But Englishmen have some very capable batsmen in Pietersen, Tortt, Strauss and Bell who can win matches for the. Matt Prior is the very capable batsmen I really failed to understand why England opened with Pietersen. I believe England must open with Matt Prior because he can keep the scoreboard rolling and even he gets out cheaply there is no harm. We all saw how Pietersen struggled against Netherlands while opening the batting so its better that Pietersen bats down the order. Trott is the big hope for England in middle-order. He is most reliable batsmen and play the very important role of anchor. 

If we talk about English bowling, Broad, Anderson and Bresnan makes good combination and will be supported by off-spinner Greame Swann. but I believe England must take chance with 2nd spinner in Bengaluru match and that will be surprise for the Indian team. Collingwood and Trott can play supporting bowler role very well so England have enough in their armoury as far as bowling is concerned. Only thing they require is little application from all the players and I feel if they play as a unit they can very well advance to the semis.

Indian team is full of confidence at the moment after their win over Bangladesh in opening match of the World Cup. Shewag , Kohli and Gambhir had good time in that match and looking good to score lot of runs in coming matches. But Sachin's failure in his last 3 ODIs is a bit of concern for Team India. Fomm of Yuvraj SIngh with the bat is also big worry. I think India have the team which suits to the sub-continent conditions but at times they falters at the key moments. India have variety in their bowling as well and they have lot of spinning option which is big advantage for Team India and MS Dhoni.  I think India have to play sensibly against England and have to post huge total like they did against Bangladesh, if they want to win this encounter and gain some pyschological advantage for the coming matches. 

India must play 2 spinners because English batsmen certainly struggle against the spin in Bengaluru. I believe trio of Harbhajan Sing, Piyush Chawla and Yuvraj Singh will do wonders if they get the same track on which they played against Australia in the warm-up game and restricted Aussies under 180. India's biggest problem is the fitness of its fast bowlers. Both Nehra and Zaheer are struggling with injuries and have to be fully fit ahead of the all important game against India. India will have the advantage of playing at home and crowd will be cheering them to do well.

Cracker of the contest is waiting for the cricket lovers on Sunday and cricket lovers across the country hoping to see close and exciting contest between these two teams.

Fans, Cricket and Lathi Charge in the name of World Cup

Sad incident happened yesterday outside  Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru where thousands of fans were beaten brutally by the police just  because those fans gathered there to get the ticket of India-England ODI which will going to be played on Sunday.

We say we are democratic country but I believe we still live in British Raj. Story is the same as it was in British Raj, people were beaten in that era by British police and people are beaten in this era as well. But actually it is fault of the people that they went to Chinnaswamy Stadium in a hope to get the few tickets for the match as we Indians consider cricket as religion and players as GODS. In British Raj, ‘Indians and Dogs’ were not allowed for any big occasion or in specific places in their own country and now poor and middle-class Indians without contacts and money are not allowed. What kind of independence it is? Its ridiculous to see so many fans were lathi-charged and our administrators didn’t utter a word. It was unfortunate that fans who waited for the ticket for hours were beaten brutally like animals.

Incident becomes even more shameful, knowing that Karnataka Cricket Association is headed by one of the legends of Indian cricket in Anil Kumble. It was not expected at least from Anil Kumble, whom cricket fans adored for so many years. It was disappointing to hear from our own Javagal Srinath, that they can’t handle people and can’t give tickets to everybody. Mr. Srinath understand one thing, cricket in this country is driven by fans and if you keep fans away from the cricket than this game will die soon.  Matter also becomes more serious because even after so many fans were beaten and hospitalized, Anil Kumble didn’t came out and expressed his apologies over the incident. Shame on you Mr. Anil Kumble, you were my hero till yesterday but now you are nothing to me.

Now coming to the core issue of non-availability of tickets for the matches. ICC already expressed its disappointment over ticket distribution. ICC wrote letter to its own President and questioned his ability to manage the ticket distribution in a fair manner. This is also very shameful for the country that one of tis cabinet minister who is holding high post in World’s highest cricket governing body is questioned by its own peers.  You can understand from the fact that in cricket crazy country, only 10% to 30% tickets are available for the general public and rest of the tickets are distributed as complimentary to the politicians, bureaucrats, sponsors  and affiliate members of the respective boards. So our so called administrators deprive the general public from watching the match in the stadium because they don’t have influence to get the tickets. Moreover pricing of the ticket is also so high that common-man can’t buy it. Moreover, people who wait outside the ticket-window for hours are treated shabbily and lathi-charged as they are criminals and committed some big crime.

Sharad Pawar

Understand one thing where Sharad Pawar exists, corruption and mis-management also exist. In fact, corruption and mis-management is synonym to Mr. Pawar. Mr. Sharad Pawar has done no good to the people of this country as a minister and also as a ICC President. He always looked after his own benefits and rake in moolahs for his relatives and for himself. Food prices rise consistently under Pawar's regime and common-man is also deprived from watching the cricket and still he exists as a authority.  I believe people like Pawars and Kalmias should be punished heavily instead of common people but that will not going to happen because  India is a one such country where if you have power you can do anything. There are only 4000 tickets available for the World Cup finals in Wankede Stadium, Mumbai. Capacity of Wankhede Stadium is 32000 and for common-people only 4000 tickets are available and those are also priced heavily. So this clearly indicates that watching cricket in a stadium is only for the VVIPs and billionaires and really this is big injustice to the  common-man.

Mis-management of the tournament organizing committee also reflects in their selection of the stadiums. In Mumbai there are 3 stadiums and among all of them DY Patil stadium is having maximum seating capacity of 55000 yet Wankhede Stadium was selected for the World Cup final just because Sharad Pawar led MCA owns it, though its sitting capacity is almost half of the DY Patil Stadium. The match for which lathi-charge massacre happens yesterday was originally scheduled to be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata which is having capacity of accommodating more than 100,000 spectators but because of BCCI’s internal politics match was awarded to the Chinnaswamy Stadium which is having sitting capacity of just 42000 and out of 42000 tickets only 8000 were available for the general public.

I believe whatever happened outside Chinnaswamy Stadium has left big blemish on the face of cricket administrators of this country and such incident was not expected atleast in the Kumble regime.