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Update : IPL 2009 Highlights updated,
Click me for IPL 2009 highlights & Match reviews
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Update : Kolkatha v Delhi Highlights updated,
Highlights: Courtesy@@Youtube - Shoiab Akhtar vengence strike lands Sharukh's Kolkata team see another good victory

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Here is all at one place coverage of IPL highlights with videos from Youtube. Matches getting interested as the form of Twenty20 cricket is quick and we sure will expect some nail biting finishes. As one of IPL ad put this league - "Manoranjan Kaa Baap" and I feel DFL IPL with so many international players in one league playing in different team combinations makes this event significant to all cricket fans. As the game concept matures as it happened with US baseball or basketball leagues, cricket fans world wide will enjoy the grand IPL show.

Note: I'll regularly update the match results with videos as soon as match was over. If you would like add this post to your favorites in Internet Explorer or Bookmark in Firefox.

Here is IPL quick match highlights with videos by the side :

Marsh cruised the team to 9 wicket victory

IPL Match Details	IPL Match Highlights videos
April, Fri 18 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 1st match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kolkata Knight Riders at "M Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore" Result:Kolkata Knight Riders won by 140 runs. Review: McCullum was unstoppable and made first IPL hundred and contributed 158 of his runs out of 222 total runs Only Praveen Kumar of Bangalore was able to retsrict Kolkata batsman	Bangalore v Kolkata match highlights
April, Sat 19 17:00 India Time, 11:30 GMT 2nd match - Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings at "Punjab Cricket Association Stadium Mohali - Chandigarh" Result:Chennai Super Kings won by 33 runs. Review: Dhoni's captaincy came to rescue again with his timely bowling rotation. Hussey's hundred helped a defending total for Chennai super kings	Mohali v Chennai match highlights
April, Sat 19 20:30 India Time, 15:00 GMT 3rd match - Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals at "Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi" Result:Delhi Daredevils won by 9 wickets Review:	Delhi v Jaipur match highlights
April, Sun 20 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 4th match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Deccan Chargers at "Eden Gardens Kolkata" Result:Kolkata Knight Riders won by 5 wickets Review:	Kolkata v Hyderabad match highlights
April, Sun 20 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 5th match - Mumbai Indians v Bangalore Royal Challengers at "Wankhede Stadium Mumbai" Result:Bangalore Royal Challengers won by 5 wickets Review:	Mumbai v Bangalore match highlights
April, Mon 21 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 6th match - Rajasthan Royals v Kings XI Punjab at "Sawai Mansingh Stadium Jaipur"" Result:Rajasthan Royals won by six wickets Review: Who imagined Watson will break the strong Yuvi's Mohali team ? Watcson made 76 with 5 sixers and 5 boundaries	Jaipur v Mohali match highlights
April, Tue 22 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 7th match - Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils at "Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Uppal" at Hyderabad Result:Delhi Darev devils Royals won by nine wickets Review: Sehwag smashed brilliant 94 to push deccan chargers to the last of the points table and moving themselves next to Kolkata. Symmonds the million dollar buy out gave 30 runs off 6 balls.	Hyderabad vs Delhi match highlights
April, Wed 23 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 8th match - Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians at "MA Chidambaram Stadium Chepauk Chennai" Result:Delhi Darev devils won by nine wickets Review: Joginder Sharma last over reminded of that first T20 finals that India won against Pakistan. This is a thriller with 2 balls and eight runs that went in favor of Chennai Superkings. Equla credit goes to bothe the teams. Good captaincy innings by Bhajji	Chennai v Mumbai match highlights Here is the last over courtesy @@ youtube:
April, Thu 24 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 9th match - Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals at "Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Uppal" at Hyderabad Result:Jaipur won by 3 wickets Review: Here goes another relatively easy match lost in final over. Why was Symmonds given the ball last over ? Two Aussies - Symmonds and Warne gave the match to Jaipur. Laxman captaincy is tested again and again just to prove its getting worse day after day. Its not enough if you have great players but making them play as a team is what DC is lacking	Hyderabad vs Jaipur match highlights
April, Fri 25 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 10th match - Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians at "Punjab Cricket Association Stadium Mohali - Chandigarh" Result:Mohali won by 66 runs Review: Sangakkara's inspiring 94 made them see their first win in IPL.The controversial match that made Sreesanth and Haribhajan into limelight because of slapping incident. Bhajji is banned for 11 matches.	Mohali v Mumbai match highlights
April, Sat 26 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 11th match - Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders at "MA Chidambaram Stadium Chepauk Chennai" Chennai won by six wickets. Dhoni captaincy came to rescue again. Undefaetabe Kolkotha so far surrendered to Chennai bowling	Chennai v Kolkata match highlights
April, Sat 26 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 12th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals at "M Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore" Jaipur won by seven wickets. Watson again shined in Royals winning. Bangalore losing streak continues and Kumble inclusion hardly helped them	Bangalore v Jaipur match highlights
April, Sun 27 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 13th match - Kings XI Punjab v Delhi Daredevils at "Punjab Cricket Association Stadium Mohali - Chandigarh" Kings XI Punjab won by 4 wickets. Katich and Yuvraj singh made their team see win against tough Delhi darve devil's team	Mohali v Delhi match highlights
April, Sun 27 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 14th match - Mumbai Indians v Deccan Chargers at "Dr DY Patil Sports Academy Mumbai" Two teams with no points on the board went on and finally Hyderabad team with superb knock from Gilly made them see their firs win. With this win DC crawled above Mumbai and Bangalore in points. Last time I saw Gilchrist play like this was in the world cup finals. Total destruction specially in Pollock's bowling he went on sixers rampage. The names that are strong on paper started showing up and if they continue this tempo they will have chances in semi finals.	Mumbai v Hyderabad match highlights
April, Mon 28 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 15th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings at "M Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore" A match that was with Bangalore until last over is royally handed over to super kings by just sheer negligence from incompetent Bangalore team. Dhoni pick by Chennai proves to be a magnificent move as he is there in almost all matches as Chennai continues its unbeaten show and similarly nothing going good for Dravid at this time and if they loose their next match they are virtually out of IPL competition. A+ to Dhoni and his IPL team. Cricinfo aptly puts Bagalore team as test team in Twenty20 clothes	Bangalore v Chennai match highlights
April, Tue 29 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 16th match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians at "Eden Gardens Kolkata" Mumbai Indians registered their first ever win with good bowling and patiency batting from Uthappa and brave Bravo batting.	Kolkata v Mumbai match highlights
April, Wed 30 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 17th match - Delhi Daredevils v Bangalore Royal Challengers at "Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi" One more loss from Dravid's team and they are virtually out of semis of IPL. Superb innings from Gambhir and this is a close match that RC couldnt cross the finish line.	Delhi v Bangalore match highlights >
May, Thu 1 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 18th match - Rajasthan Royals v Kolkata Knight Riders at "Sawai Mansingh Stadium Jaipur" Rajasthan continues their winning streak. This match lead to controversies with Umar Gul (Kolkatha) and Warne (Rajasthan) slamming Ganguly for his captaincy	Jaipur v Kolkata match highlights
May, Thu 1 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 19th match - Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab at "Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Uppal" at Hyderabad Hyderabad did all they can do except improving their bowling. Rohit Sharma brave strike went waste nulled by Jeff Marsh's son - S Marsh	Hyderabad vs Mohali match highlights
May, Fri 2 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 20th match - Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils at "MA Chidambaram Stadium Chepauk Chennai" Sehwag just went berserk stoppng Dhoni's superkings to surrencer	Chennai v Delhi match highlights
May, Sat 3 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 21st match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Deccan Chargers at "M Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore" BANGALORE PULLS A THRILLER	Bangalore v Hyderabad match highlights
May, Sat 3 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 22nd match - Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders at "Punjab Cricket Association Stadium Mohali - Chandigarh"	Mohali v Kolkata match highlights
May, Sun 4 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 23rd match - Mumbai Indians v Delhi Daredevils at "Dr DY Patil Sports Academy Mumbai" Pollock led Mumbai Indians taught good lesson to over confident Sehwag's Delhi Dare devils.	Mumbai v Delhi match highlights
May, Sun 4 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 24th match - Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings at "Sawai Mansingh Stadium Jaipur" Underdogs Rajasthan climbed to first place defeating Dhoni's mighty Chennai SuperKings -- Tanvir broke the back of strong batting with his 6 wickets.	Jaipur v Chennai match highlights
May, Mon 5 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 25th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab at "M Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore" Dravid put up finally some score and the whole Bangalore team crushed with single digit scores (except Kohli). This makes it Punjab's fifthe win in a row	Bangalore v Mohali match highlights
May, Tue 6 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 26th match - Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers at "MA Chidambaram Stadium Chepauk Chennai" Gilchrist lead a team that deserves long margin win	Chennai v Hyderabad match highlights
May, Wed 7 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 27th match - Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals at "Dr DY Patil Sports Academy Mumbai"	Mumbai v Jaipur match highlights
May, Thu 8 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 28th match - Delhi Daredevils v Chennai Super Kings at "Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi" Delhi's winning streak requires a thriiller match that went to Chennai side on last ball	Delhi v Chennai match highlights
May, Thu 8 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 29th match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Bangalore Royal Challengers at "Eden Gardens Kolkata" Its Ganguly vs Dravid and Ganuly pulled a unbelievable bowling stunt that restricted RC one more win	Kolkata v Bangalore match highlights
May, Fri 9 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 30th match - Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers at "Sawai Mansingh Stadium Jaipur"	Jaipur v Hyderabad match highlights
May, Sat 10 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 31st match - Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab at "MA Chidambaram Stadium Chepauk Chennai" Balaji's hattrick sinked Kings XI	Chennai v Mohali match highlights
May, Sun 11 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 32nd match - Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders at "Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Uppal" at Hyderabad Ganguly lead the team to victory	Hyderabad vs Kolkata match highlights
May, Sun 11 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 33rd match - Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils at "Sawai Mansingh Stadium Jaipur" Thats close win for Jaipur with Watson hitting five sixers	Jaipur v Delhi match highlights
May, Mon 12 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 34th match - Kings XI Punjab v Bangalore Royal Challengers at "Punjab Cricket Association Stadium Mohali - Chandigarh"	Mohali v Bangalore match highlights
May, Tue 13 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 35th match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi Daredevils at "Eden Gardens Kolkata" Shoiab returned with vengence	Kolkata v Delhi match highlights
May, Wed 14 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 36th match - Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings at "Dr DY Patil Sports Academy Mumbai"	Mumbai v Chennai match highlights
May, Thu 15 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 37th match - Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers at "Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi"	Delhi v Hyderabad match highlights
May, Fri 16 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 38th match - Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders at "Dr DY Patil Sports Academy Mumbai"	Mumbai v Kolkata match highlights
May, Sat 17 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 39th match - Rajasthan Royals v Bangalore Royal Challengers at "Sawai Mansingh Stadium Jaipur"	Mohali v Bangalore match highlights
May, Sat 17 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 40th match - Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab at "Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi"	Delhi v Mohali match highlights
May, Sun 18 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 41st match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings at "Eden Gardens Kolkata"	Kolkata v Chennai match highlights
May, Sun 18 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 42nd match - Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians "Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Uppal" at Hyderabad	Hyderabad vs Mumbai match highlights
May, Mon 19 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 43rd match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Delhi Daredevils at "M Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore"	Bagalore v Delhi match highlights
May, Tue 20 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 44th match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals at "Eden Gardens Kolkata"	Kolkata v Jaipur match highlights
May, Wed 21 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 45th match - Mumbai Indians v Kings XI Punjab at "Dr DY Patil Sports Academy Mumbai"	Mumbai v Mohali match highlights
May, Wed 21 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 46th match - Chennai Super Kings v Bangalore Royal Challengers at "MA Chidambaram Stadium Chepauk Chennai"	Chennai v Bangalore match highlights
May, Thu 22 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 47th match - Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders at "Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi"	Delhi v Kolkata match highlights
May, Fri 23 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 48th match - Kings XI Punjab v Deccan Chargers at "Punjab Cricket Association Stadium Mohali - Chandigarh"	Mohali v Hyderabad match highlights
May, Sat 24 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 49th match - Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals at "MA Chidambaram Stadium Chepauk Chennai"	Chennai v Jaipur match highlights
May, Sat 24 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 50th match - Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians at "Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi"	Delhi v Mumbai match highlights
May, Sun 25 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 52nd match - Deccan Chargers v Bangalore Royal Challengers at "Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Uppal" at Hyderabad	Hyderabad vs Bangalore match highlights
May, Sun 25 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 51st match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab at "Eden Gardens Kolkata"	Kolkata v Mohali match highlights
May, Mon 26 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 53rd match - Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians at "Sawai Mansingh Stadium Jaipur"	Jaipur v Mumbai match highlights
May, Tue 27 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 54th match - Deccan Chargers v Chennai Super Kings at "Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Uppal" at Hyderabad	Hyderabad vs Chennai match highlights
May, Wed 28 16:00 India Time, 10:30 GMT 55th match - Bangalore Royal Challengers v Mumbai Indians at "M Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore"	Bangalore v Mumbai match highlights
May, Wed 28 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 56th match - Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals at "Punjab Cricket Association Stadium Mohali - Chandigarh"	Mohali v Jaipur match highlights
May, Fri 30 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 1st Semi-Final - TBC v TBC at "Wankhede Stadium Mumbai"	TBC v TBC match highlights
May, Sat 31 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT 2nd Semi-Final - TBC v TBC at "Wankhede Stadium Mumbai"	TBC v TBC match highlights
June, Sun 1 20:00 India Time, 14:30 GMT Final - TBC v TBC at "Wankhede Stadium Mumbai"	TBC v TBC match highlights

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, highlights, IPL, videos, youtube

What made Chennai win the game ? Hussey's quick runs in last overs ? I feel its super kings captaincy, the sheer application of simpe captaicy principals from Dhoni - he rotated his bowlers reay well in the peak of thegame. Ofcourse Badri and Hussey added 3 runs a ball in last 25 balls (75 runs) and that added required pressureto Yuvi's team. The game was neck to neck when Sangakkara and Yuvi was hitting short balls from JoginderSharma. Great resistance from Kings XI and match was much more intersting than yesterdays Bangalore vs.Kolkata's quick finisher.

Match#1 Chennai SuperKings vs Punjab KingsXI video Highlights @@ Youtube

Labels: Chennai, Cricket, Cricket Match Review, highlights, IPL, Punjab

The first opening match is a big disappointment to host team Bangalore - Royal Challengers. Praveen Kumar's excellent spell is nulled by Zaheer Khan's poor performance made McCullam hit all around the ground. The first IPL hundred and a terrific quick 158 out of 222 is all the differnce by the opener in the opening IPL match. Though Ganguly seems not a right partner, Brendon's hardhitting on a bouncy pitch continued the firework innings to the end. When Praveen Kumar was bowling good line and length, Dravid should have continued little longer with him -- This I feel is the turning point of the game.

Crowd booed Ricky Ponting on every opportunity and proved themselves it does not make diffenrce if its karamyudhha or Dharamyudha. Knight Riders flying start will give Sharukh a big relief and makes them a tough team to beat in IPL inauguaral series.

Here is Kolkata's McCullam's Royal massacre of Bangolre's Royal Challengers highlights video @@ youtube :

Labels: Bangalore, Cricket, Cricket Match Review, highlights, IPL, KnightRiders, Kolkata, RoyalChallengers

Probably this final is one of the most sensible chases that Indian fans have seen in recent past. Sachin low on confidence or poor form does not take strike of first ball and Uthappa gets the chance. Lee did trouble Sachin initially. Aussies bowling have lost some edge after the departure of Warne and McGrath. With Hogg and Gilchrist departing after this series Aussies might be in big trouble. The total of 240 is a paltry total and India needs to keep their wickets intact.

Sachin scored all around the ground to keep Aussies fielding busy. The coordination of Sharma and Tendlya is a winning partnership. Sachin seen appreciating Sharma for his so perfect text book shots and for Rohit of age 21, this must be a great compliment from master blaster. In this series it is first time that India crossed or touched 50 for first wicket. 6+4 = 10dulkar is waiting for long time to give India this blasting innings and what a occasion to finish his first hundred in Australia that too at Sydney Cricket Ground ...err...Sachin Cricket Ground.

It is good to see India team maturing into a good bowling side with Praveen Kumar and Ishant leading the way.

Labels: CBSeries, Cricket, Cricket Match Review, finals, sachin tendulkar

Sydney and Haribhajan have always controversies to offer , First final at Sydney is no different in this regard. Bhajji took both the wickets of Hayden as well as Symmonds. Symmonds and the Haribhajan calling him "Monkey" issue led to bitter fights in Sydney test match. Hayden recently last week talking on radio referred Bhajji as "obnoxious weed" and it resulted in emotional tensions on the ground as witnessed today.When Haribhajan came to bowl there are lots of boos around the ground. Under pressure Bhajji took the well deserved revenge by taking both Hayden as well as Symmonds wicket in 1st final of CB series. Bhajji celebrated the two wickets in "Bhalle Bhalle !" Bhangra style. Yuvi and Bhajji did a short display of boxing skills to Sydney crowd after Hayden got out.

It all started with Dhoni. Interesting decision by Dhoni to give Bhajji the ball when Symmonds and Hayden are on the board. Dhoni had no choice as Pathan was under performing today with his first over costing India 15 runs.

Bhajji suffocated Hayden by not giving him any chance to score runs and Hayden fell for this trap and as natural as for the batsmen to play reckless shots.This is exactly what Bhajji masterminded in taking out Hayden at Syndey 1st Final today. The credit for Hayden's wicket is also to be given to Chawla who took an excellent running catch of Hayden. Overall Hayden played great final innings for Aussies, without Hayden score Aussies would have been in deep trouble.

Symmonds dismissal that was awesome teaser ball, lot of flight on that ball (probably a bit of turn also) inviting Symmonds into trouble.This dismissal looked like as if Symmonds threw his wicket carelessly. Under pressure it is Bhajji who was not at all bowling good and Symmonds dug his own grave by a careless shot. Bhajji celebrates "Bhalle Bhalle" move.

At the end it is Bhajji in the finals with just two wickets he might have now put pressure on the critics, Australian media, Punter, Symmonds and the Hayden.

Well Done Bhajji !

Videos of two wickets :

Symmonds dismissal video





Hayden dismissal video [ Check the free boxing match of Yuvi and Bhajji ]

Labels: Australia vs India, CBSeries, Controversy, Cricket, Cricket Match Review, finals

All Sri Lanka Wickets video

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, India vs SriLanka

India keeps chances of getting into finals alive by winning this crucial match against Sri Lanka in a thriller. Dhoni and Yuvraj clinched this thriller in a style. Dhoni scored no boundaries in runs of 50 he made.

Dhoni's 50 video



He speaks after the game in a jubilious mode to the media.

Dhoni's post match video


Yuvraj strugglling for his form made a winnning contribution in the crucial match. 200th match and he reagained his confidence with few boundaries. 76 off 70 balls put India on winning. Seems yoga is doing it for Yuvi and hope he carries same momentum in all his next games. The video where he spoke to Harsha Bogle, Ravi Shastri and Wasim Akram after the game.

Yuvi's post match video


Again a disastrous performance show from the Indian top order batsman. Uthappa should be sacked from the team and so far he has been worst contributer playying irresponsibly except for one ODI in England I have not seen any runs from his bat.

Here is video of fall of wickets for India :

India's fall of wickets video

Labels: CBSeries, Cricket, Cricket Match Review, highlights, India, India vs SriLanka, videos

Catches win matches is a old proverb where as umpires win matches is the new one.The two crucial decisions of Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar was the turning point of the game.Aleem Daar's decisions replayed on big screen might have frustrated each and every Indian fan escepecially Tendulkar's decision.Tendulkar was looking good and settled in going after Flintoff which would have been fun to watch if he was at the crease for longer time.Just not these two faulty umpiring judgments, what about around eight to ten wrong decisions for India in this tour? why Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid did not challenge the umpire's decision like KP did in one of previous match?

Tendulkar is a true cricket gentleman and see his humble reaction at Aleem Daar's decision in 7th ODI.



Keeping aside umpiring decisions, Whats the point in team India playing with 7 batsmen ? With the wickets of Yuvraj and over confident Uthappa falling Dhoni shouldered responsibility of the innings.Once he got rhythm he was good or say better than Ganguly , Yuvaraj and Uthappa.Talk about Ganguly what ghost did he put on today playing cheap shots in which he was almost out on 4 or more occasions.Besides Tendlya, Dhoni is the only other player similar to his last match he started very slow, but by the end, his score looked decent.

The only hope at lunch break for Indian fans is that 1983 history repeats for India as in 1983 India was all out for 183 but still won the match and world cup, today India was all out for 187.Well, the 1983 team had all rounders and dedicated fielding team which played for India not like these days where game is commercialized and players have more interest in brand endorsements rather than the sport.

This is the first time in the series that both England openers have been dismissed for a duck but still other Indian bowlers couldn't carry on the momentum.The biggest problem with Zaheer is that he can be so inconsistent and that paid the price in todays match.

Cricinfo reported that historically, one-day finals at Lord's in September favor the side batting second as the damper autumnal conditions give the bowlers an early advantage. Rahul Dravid, however, decided to bat, what a gamble ? This may be the reason too India loosing ODI series.

Overall a great series for fans who were disappointed with poor world cup 2007 performance of team India.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, England vs. INDIA

Who's the King of the match ? Robin Uthappa.

Probably Uthappa's berth has been confirmed in the team with this crucial match say for another 15 to 20 matches.Single handedly when wickets are falling on other end, Uthappa hit two back to back fours making the India win possible and tie the ODI series. What a comeback for him and India who was trailing 3-1 in the series.

With sizzling opening partnership from Tendlya and Ganguly no body hoped that Uthappa will come to bat.Opener's job is to give a good launching pad to the rest of the team. That's what these openers did. At one stage it did not mattered to openers if its a powrplay or not they went on rampage destroying all the England bowlers.Hope all Tendlya fans rejoiced all this good aggressive cricket that he used to play in 90's.Looked like 90's fashioned traditional Indian batting style the way India was ticking score board with just boundaries. Collingwood is a very good captain waited too long for power play hoping that one of the openers gets dismissed.

From over 21 things started slowing down for India side with Tendlya in his 90+ runs.Tendlya's body took its toll with cramps with Physio working on him.This is the time Collingwood made a right decision knowing that Tendlya is in 90's he took power play knowing that Tendlya slows down for his ton.Power Play 3 could give India only 23 runs.Gambhir, one of the promising opener among the courrent young players did his job giving good stand for team India.Another ton missed by Tendlya.Imagine how distressful this can be to any player.But Tendulkar played very agressive to his age today.

Who had to be cursed for England's 316 score ? Chawla, if only he had kept himself inside the ropes on first 6, the score would have been below 300 or Yuvraj for giving away five sixers in consecutive balls of last over.

Team India keeps the hopes of fans alive for the last and 7th ODI which is the series decider.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, England vs. INDIA

Does team India honing their batting skills from Ravi Shastri (Shastri took 67 balls for his 25 in match against AUS which we lost because of his slow batting times) and Chandu Borde (Who played and knows classic cricket that was played before 1970) ? After a paltry score from Gambhir and Ganguly, Dravid and Tendulkar duo competed with each other for ' who plays slowest ?' contest. Dravid picked up the strike rate in the later part of the game by which already damage has been done to India's run rate. Tendulkar on other end played as slowly as possible irking the viewers and making every one wish Dravid gets the strike. We have lived with critics who aim their shots on everything that Tendulkar does these days, If he gives up wicket early..a big problem..sack him from the team...if he reaches 90..we say he slows down to get his 100.Today's match is a witness of this repetition.Sad that Tendulkar missed his ton by missing his second run to complete his hundred.
With 8 wickets in hand even a way side tea shop guy will tell you that this is not a great batting by the Indians in the slog overs. Slog overs require running between wickets and for that at least Dravid/Tendulkar should have thrown their wicket to get Yuvaraj to bat.Knowing that any one of SA players - AB, Kallis, Gibbs can handle this score single handedly, Dravid's team is able to put just 240 plus runs on score board.

Adding to the India troubles are the virus affected bowlers, Agarkar and Sreesanth who missed the game today. Both of them could have been very handy in these seaming conditions.Only hope was how much turn and bit Piyush and Powar gets from this wicket.AB de Villiers has done well to put pressure on Ganguly who was not a full time bowler as Ganguly have to bowl quite a few overs today.In middle overs India bowling did tightened its grip and gave hopes of close match.Kalli's with his average strike rate of 90+ (1 century and 7 fifties in 17 games this year) destroyed India's hopes. Chawla did a marvelous job, What a way to start the international career ? Three ODIs so far and three wickets in each of them.
Who is to be blamed for this loss ? Rahul Dravid for not changing the bowlers at right time. Though he brought back Zaheer at a strange time and the move paid off straightaway,he gave the ball to young Sharma neglecting Sachin Tendulkar and Sharma bowled a pretty good over as well.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, INDIA vs SOUTH AFRICA

Team India started their 81 day long tour with a easy win against Ireland in a rain delayed match.Ireland though new to cricketing world proved their mettle in world cup that made Pakistan exit early and witnessed nasty after events related to Woolmer's death investigation.Though Team India are the favourites in this ODI but should not be self satisfied keeping in mind the Ireland recent past.But the weakness of Ireland that India could bank is that the Ireland team would miss the services of some key members like their opening batsman Jeremy Bray, middle order batsman Eoin Morgan and bowlers like Boyd Rankin, Dave Langford Smith who did magic in the World Cup

Team India Bowling : Zaheer khan is rested against Ireland due to injury.This series is a test to Indian bowling with relatively new comers Sreesanth,Chawla and RP singh .As expected Sreesanth justified his selection to the bowling attack by rightly using seamer friendly pitch but at the expense of economy rate.He got early breakthrough for India by taking two wickets of Carrol and Joyce.Though India have too many problem with bowling, atleast Agarkar stays in the team for quite a long period compared to others.Agarkar's experience helped him take the needed wicket of Ireland, Porterfield. Porterfield is one player who shined and made his name in world cup. Chawla's spell is very impressive considering that this is his only second game and he is successful in restricting Ireland's middle order.Niall O'Brien's timely 52 runs and his partnership with captain Johnston made Ireland acheive a decent score of 193.

As forecasted the rain played spoilsport after first half of the match.



Team India Batting : The two talented Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly who have been in excellent form in Bangladesh series is brought back into this series further strengthening the batting line up.Sadly Tendulkar just faced couple of balls to return to pavilion putting doubts that India will have this easy match in the bag.All the responsibility is shouldered on Gangluy and Gambhir as we very well know that after Dravid and Yuvaraj we have an inexperienced line up like Karthik,Sharma,Agarkar,RP and chawla.

Probably the punishment to sack Ganguly for few matches has yielded results as he has now given the team India the very needed batting lineup confidence.But real test is with South Africa as we do not know if he is good or is it that Ireland just can't bowl ? The slow batting pace is evident as as we cannot expect both Gambhir and Ganguly would play rash shots at 9/1 scoreboard.Anchoring an inning is important and that's what these two batsman effectively committed as Ganguly at every opportunity dominated spinners especially left armers.Third fifty was scored in just 51 balls showing that comfort level is surpassed increase the strike rate.

With this win,team India is again in winning mode, but they need to show same commitment in the upcoming critical matches against South Africa.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, INDIA vs Ireland

The defending champions, Australia emerged as the winners with a Hat Trick world cup champions title in Barbados, West Indies which the West Indies team themselves failed to get Hat Trick when they had a chance in 1983.

AT THE END, UMPIRES CREATED RULES DRAMA AND THE PUNTER GETS THE STICK FROM UMPIRES AFTER EVERY ONE CELEBRATED AUSSIES WIN.I FELT SIMPLE NONSENSE RULES DRAMA OF WORLD CUP CRICKET 2007 TO END.

54 matches 16 teams and ONLY one team Australia played like true champions and proved once again in this event that no matter which the opponent team is ...Australia made sure that they are miles and miles of reach and they made lives of opponent teams miserable.

First Half:

Australian Batting-

The top order is been in tremendous form for Aus and never gave its middle order any chance in this whole event. The same repeated today, the Aussie openers slashed SL bowlers taking advantage of toss and the flat batting pitch. The first half looked like Gilchrist against the entire SL team. What a match and right time for Gilchrist to come into superb form. He wasn't at all violent in this world cup and was very quite but unleashed all his reserved strengths in final match and SL had to bear the brunt of his ruthless hitting. Remember the 2003 finals with India, Indian fans at last in this world cup probably had some thing to rejoice that Team India did not get this kind of brutal strike from these two players Gilchrist and Hayden. Gillie entertained the crowd breaking Ponting's record of highest individual score in WC finals.

From over three he ripped Vaas bowling apart, Gilchrist taking one stride forward and hits it over the long on, into the stands for a six. Sangakkara stood close to the stumps making Gillie not to charge down the pitch. This did not help SL. Spectators who are disappointed in the morning for rain enjoyed full justice from Gilchrist's bat. None of the SL bowlers bowled good line. Jayasurya got punished harshly for bowling on Gilchrist's leg stump. Gillie just picked all the bowlers on a song. Gillie going back foot to Murali seemed dangerous sometimes that he will go LBW. Finally he got out on his 5th chance.

Hayden struggled other end not getting the timing at all on most of the balls. Hayden and Gilchrist have reversed the roles today by Hayden taking the anchor role and Gil a pinch hitter. Heyden became a full time spectator enjoying the fireworks of Gil. Mallinga troubled Hayden but Hayden got lucky many times getting edges to the boundary.

Ponting let Gil run the show till he got settled other end. Ponting did slow the run rate for Aussies otherwise a score of 320 plus must have been possible for Aussies.

Umpire Dar warned Ponting for running on the pitch, first Ponting and then Clarke. It seemed harsh on Umpire part when umpire Dar signaled a dead ball, indicating no run, but the ball counted. A run has been denied to the batsman for running on the pitch. Is Aus mistake to put shane watson early? No big effort from the other batsman put the Target score of Aus to 281.

SL bowling-

SL cunning strategy to rest Vaas and Murali did not work, Both got clobbered by Gil. Fernando replacing Vaas in bowling at crucial time pushed SL more into trouble. Maharoof might have been good choice instead of Fernando. A flat pitch did not help Murali do his tricks on Kangaroos.

Second half:

SL batting-

SL does have blistering players like Gil and that entire burden fell on Jayasurya. Tharanga is the first man to get a paltry score of eight. Jaya needed to pull of an Arvinda de Silva type 1996 performance to have any chance for SL to win this match. Jaya did his job putting bowlers under pressure and Ponting to sweat. Sangakarra celebrated his 200th match in a style with some hard hitting during power play. Sanga is not at all in a good form through out this cup.

The 13th over of McGrath is the time when match swinged into SL favor.

13.6 McGrath to Sangakkara, FOUR
13.5 McGrath to Sangakkara, FOUR
13.4 McGrath to Sangakkara, SIX

When Sangakkara and Jayasuriya were out the match was kind of decided.
Rain created some drama at the end but by that time hopes of SL winning is a distant possibility.

Aus bowling-

This is a batting pitch and Aussie team did had their troubles restricting SL bowlers. Hogg has succeeded in spin again giving Sangakkara's wicket as a present to the team. Good captaincy from Ponting by making good bowling changes all the time reserving McGrath for last overs.

Commentators put this winning as "Australia played like machine .. a well oiled machine through out this tournament with out any down time"

World Cup Cricket champions are Australia AGAIN.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, finals, world cup 2007, world cup cricket

Exept winning the toss, South Africa failed in all departments of the game today.
We very well know historically SA leaves the world cup in an unusual ways mostly curse factor. This time the exit is normal.

Score was 27/5 after 10 overs , Can any one imagine SA can perform this badly ? I totally disagree with the fact that it is that Australia to be blamed because they play excellent cricket.Remember you cannot just blame sun for the heat.It is its natural process and one has to find ways to escape from its heat.
The only team in this tournament SA other than SL I felt can tolerate this heat stroke.


The first ten overs decided the match in favor of unstoppable Aussie.

9.5 McGrath to Boucher, OUT
9.4 McGrath to Prince, OUT
8.5 Shaun Tait to de Villiers, OUT
5.3 McGrath to Kallis, OUT
2.3 Bracken to Smith, OUT



Glenn McGrath, the front runner for the Player of the Tournament with 12 points broke strong top order of RSA.

In this world Cup so far the right teams have made it to the Semi finals.Yesterday we witnessed that the psycological advantage side of Sri Lanka winning the berth to finals between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Today it is totally different.South Africa surrendered to Australia helplessly.

Proteans were deeeeeeeeeeeeeep in trouble and never recovered after first 10 overs.Who would saves the day for SA? It is not Gibbs.He is just a man of records.
Kemp is the one who played in crisis situation like he did previously with India [ When SA were reeling at 76/6 Justin Kemp and Andrew Hall orchestrated a remarkable comeback, and then the usual story, Team India choked and lost that match by 106 runs].

Kemp resticted Aus bowlers and gave decent fight for a decent total of 149.

Once SA batting is over match was totally one sided dominated by Australia.
Australia's Gilchrist struggled even in this match to regain his form.

All credit goes to McGrath and Tait for giving early match victory to Australia.
Can Murali, Vaas and Sanath of SL repeat 1996 and stop Ozzies ? I doubt.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, semi finals

Two strongest cricket teams of this world cup cricket 2007, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, showed their best of the best so far in this cup. Why did New Zealand loose this crucial match ? Because Sri Lanka played mind game when Sanath, Sangakkara and Silva were out for small scores.New Zealand failed to capitalise Sanath Jayasuriya's early dismissal and did not recover from Styris dismissal.

First Half:

Tharanga used to be one the best new opener from sub continent in the recent past except for world cup matches.The SL opener (I think..I think..I don't think..I think - he spoke to commentators during lunch time with too many "I thinks"), played the very required innings as he has been failing on a regular basis.He fired in this important tie to take his team off to a flier.He got lucky some times when Bond almost got him out twice in one over.Very close calls.Tharanga played very well under pressure answering all his critics for selecting him in the team for semis.Specially the way Franklin was attacked is very impressive by hitting hit him in one over for extra cover and over the slips to third man.Sanath Jayasuriya who had great run in this tournament got out for a superb delivery off Franklin.Looked like even Jayasurriya couldn't believe how he got out as ball blind sighted him and made to the stumps between his bat and pad.This is the only time in entire match that NZ got psychological edge over SL.NZ of course failed to capitalize this.

Sangakkara failed again to play to his potential in this match.He played slowly playing anchor role(lack of better words, sangakarra actually struggled to get runs) giving the hitting part to Tharanga.That was one of first excellent partnerships for SL by Sangakkara playing the anchor role.Catch towards mid off fielder Flemming ending the slow run rate innings of Sangakkara.Jayawardene back in form just at the right time for SL in this world cup.Good captain innings by Mahila with five half centuries and a very crucial century match innings of today when big players like Sanath and Silva were out.Mahila initially took lots of time settling down playing like Sangakkara.The lower middle order comprising of Dilshan, Silva and Arnold have done well adding quick runs to the score board.Silva's LBW decision is just plain bad - It is clear inner edge off the bat with the audible sound,this decision in my opinion costed SL at least 40 to 50 runs on their score board.

How is NZ bowling ? Bowling at its worst to the date in this match. The bowling of NZ which previously fared well under the leadership of Bond for early breakthroughs totally failed in this match.In the middle overs none of the bowlers Patel or Oram or Vettori managed to pick up wickets at regular intervals as they did in super eights.If they had done their home work of not just getting Jayasuriya out but others too they would have given Lankans tough competition.

Second Half:

Fleming who is not at all consistent in this world cup failed again in this crucial match with just a single on score board.Taylor who had fantastic time in the fielding fell for meager nine runs.Fulton who bounce backed to form played a slow innings in this match.Styris,the star performer for NZ put up decent score and quick runs for NZ.Why did Jayawardane gave bowling to Fernando in power play that too when Styris is playing ? Poor captaincy that costed quite a no ball runs and huge hammering from Styris. As commentators put it "Styris is in the form of his life", hitting Murali dosras over the boundaries during the power play. Jaywardane corrected his power play mistakes by taking NZ expensive Styris catch.Two wickets from two balls from Murali doosras put the match on Sri Lanka side.

How is Sri Lankan bowling ? As good as it gets,SL bowling is considered to be the strongest of all teams in this worldcup with senior players Vaas,Malinga and Murali. The fielding too of SL in this match is just fantastic.

Sri Lanka in World Cup Cricket 2007 finals.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, sri lanka, world cup 2007, world cup cricket

Finally witnessed one of the very few good matches of this world cup 2007.

Good cricket by West Indies.Gayle fired quick runs and stole the Lara farewell fireworks.Looked at one time that Lara may not get a chance to bat by the way Gayle and slow batting by Smith.I thought Lara who came in at 25 overs would finish his career in a style but got run out for a small score.Samuels called the shots for the run and made WI captain to get run out.Lara getting out in this match is Samuels mistake. Samuels patched up later with his quick 50.Collingwood's superb catch of the world cup dismissed Smith.Here is Aspi's catch description in detail. A good score by WI of 300 for England to chase.

Vaughan at last in the last super eight game played good captain innings of 79.Target was defendable,a bit of patience with singles or two's would have been less riskier for England to keep up the six/over run rate.Many risky shots played by players at very crucial junuctures that swinged the match both ways.Pieterson added one more ton to his records.Did England ever win when KP scores a ton? Nixon's brave innings switched the match to English side at one stage,But fluctuation continued between England and WI until the end.where did this end? Last over Match is with England, Equation is that four runs required of last over. What a decision by Lara to give last over to Bravo.As we all know Bravo did the trick previously in favor of WI by dismissing Yuvraj in similar situations.Bravo gave a sweet 'clean bowled' gift of Nixon to Lara.Match swinged to WI favor.

Need three balls two runs one wicket.
Need two balls two runs one wicket.
Two runs by England.
England won the match by one wicket.

A thriller match farewelled Lara.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review

Australia just bulldozes everybody so ruthlessly as witnessed today in super eight match against NZ. NZ rested Bond and Oram in this game and probably extra 60 to 70 runs can be attributed to this.Australia makes team play not individuals like Team India , If one star player is out of form others will cover the team. With Gilchrist early dismissal, Hayden (pic. to left) and Ponting carried the innings to a solid start in this game.Commentators talked about how Hayden was almost dropped but selectors had faith in him and he proved that in this world cup.This match hundred is Tenth ODI Hundred for Hayden.Hayden turning out be dangerous players of ODI with his superb class and consistence.Ponting without being as brutal as Hayden, has better strike rate.Look at Hussey before the world cup he was in good form. But Hussey in this world cup previous to this match scored 4,2,5,9,3. Even this match he was dismissed for not so great score of 37.Watson showed fireworks in the slog overs by accelerating Aussie score to 348.

Its been a long time to see a successful 300 plus chases but NZ looked in control for first 11 overs with a trike rate of 7 runs per over.Once Flemming, Styris and McMillan were out , it looked like 100 is difficult for NZ.Too many single digit scores on the board.I hoped NZ will play strong against AUS to break one sided world cup games streak going on for a while.

Would RSA or SL have given decent run chase than NZ ? Probably yes.

NZ need lots and lots of luck going into semis.

Labels: Australia, Cricket, Cricket Match Review, world cup 2007, world cup cricket

WI and Banglas both don't have chance in semis, The motivation factor for Banglas is if they win today, they might end up 6th 0r 5th position in WC.Something to take home back.This motivation showed in their excellent first bowling spell.Early Pathetic batting by WI and finest bowling by Bangladesh made WI top order score less than one or two runs per over for first twenty overs. WI looked terribly low on confidence in first twenty overs.Most runs in first overs came from wides.Samuels and Chanderpaul took too long to settle down.But duo contained wickets even when Banglas brought spinner Razak into attack during power play.Samuels is one WI player who can sensibly play against sub continental spinners.Banglas when brining in Razak should have made this observation but they have no choice as they have only two fast bowlers.

WI played like Ireland,Ireland played good to keep the wicket against Bangladesh.The experience of Sarwan and Lara helped them to steer WI to a decent total in the middle and slog overs. Sarwan may not be as good as Lara but his batting average is higher than that of Lara in ODIs.Sarwan finished the WI innings with his one more ODI brilliant knock of 91 runs off 90 balls.

Tamim failed in this match again.Sending Aftab top in the order did not help Banglas.Banglas didn't do their home work right, they have absolutely no clue how to play Collymore and Powell.Mortaza and Rahim put some resistance put WI bowling patience to test. Banglas had a mixed world cup, Two great shockers the one against India and RSA and many of harsh thrashings.

If WI beats England in next match then they will end up 5th position in the WC2007. How is WI fared so far in Super Eights ? Pathetic with huge loss margins. (see below)

* 37th Match, Super Eights: West Indies v South Africa at St George's - Apr 10, 2007 South Africa won by 67 runs. South Africa 356/4 (50 ov); West Indies 289/9 (50 ov)

* 30th Match, Super Eights: West Indies v Sri Lanka at Providence - Apr 1, 2007.Sri Lanka won by 113 runs. Sri Lanka 303/5 (50 ov); West Indies 190 (44.3 ov)

* 27th Match, Super Eights: West Indies v New Zealand at North Sound - Mar 29, 2007.New Zealand won by 7 wickets (with 64 balls remaining). West Indies 177 (44.4 ov); New Zealand 179/3 (39.2 ov)

* 25th Match, Super Eights: West Indies v Australia at North Sound - Mar 27-28, 2007.Australia won by 103 runs. Australia 322/6 (50 ov); West Indies 219 (45.3 ov)

From Gary Sobers to Viv. Richards to Lara.It is sad to see how WI cricket have transformed over years.

This is Brian Lara's last but one match.We will miss great batsman - Brain Lara,
Hope Lara does not get sentimental as Inzi in his last match with England on Saturday.

Labels: Bangladesh, Cricket, Cricket Match Review, lara, Sarwan, world cup 2007, world cup cricket

None of the Irish stars put up any decent effort to win this match.Porterfield who anchored and won the match for IRE against Banglas with his patient 85 looked like he will do the same with his slow batting today.Another Niall O'Brien's with his two catches and 72 runs against Pakistan put Ireland to reach Super Eight fell for Murali.OBrien 's excellent performances will leave bad memories to Pakistan for years.

Irish had lot to learn lot from this particular game so as to improve their future ODI rankings.Irish should watch and learn how AUS plays Murali.

Maharoof and Murali made Irish return to home quicker by sharing quick four wickets each.I expected SL will finish this match by 10 wickets. Tharanga's poor form continued in this match and his batting average is 14.00 with just 125 runs in this world cup. Only Jaya Surya is having excellent run so far for SL in this world cup with 351 runs.

SL should improve their top batting order to have any chances to continue their winning streak in the semi finals and finals.

Congratulations to Ireland for getting ODI cricket status for victory over Pakistan in the group stages and their 74-run triumph over Bangladesh in super eight.

Good Bye Ireland, you have your friends( (England) waiting to fly back with you.

Labels: Brien, Cricket, Cricket Match Review, Ireland, Pakistan

Dude... England is out of world cup cricket 2007.

Dude.. I stopped watching world cup cricket after team India exited,Recently I know English are not playing their invented cricket these days but thought English are a lot better team than Team India SO give me one non Cricket reason for English loosing todays game against RSA?

Dude its got to do some thing with the DRINKS break.

Right after the drinks break this is how live commentary went:

"Drinks are on the field now

32.4 Kallis to Strauss, THATS OUT!! Caught!!
33.5 Hall to Collingwood, THATS OUT!! LBW!!
35.1 Hall to Flintoff, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!
35.6 Hall to Nixon, THATS OUT!! Caught!!
37.1 Hall to Mahmood, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!
Hall is on a hattrick
"
Eng took ten runs and gave five wickets to Proteans.ENG scored 154 runs in 48 overs.

SA has come back strongly in this match with their excellent bowling plan to prove that they are not a team to take lightly. South Africa was in the driving seat from the beginning of the match. Superb captaincy by Graeme Smith today, He got his coveted gift of KP Pietersen wicket today. [Pietersen was born in RSA and played quite a bit of cricket there. He had to shift to England because of the quota system in the RSA cricket team selection pattern. This shift of Pietersen has always caused a war of words between him and many protean players, especially, Graeme Smith]. What a day for Smith and worst day for Pietersen - KP caught Smith bowled Nel. Right before KP is out, There are thirteen South African born Players on the field and may be number 'thirteen' resulted in bad luck to ENG.ENG progress in WC 2007 is disappointing as we saw ENG struggling even with minnows - Did they deserve to be here in super eight?

Once again ENG hopes were on Collinwood as Collinwood and Strauss are two last best at the crease that ENG can rely on. For ENG to reach semis, ENG very well knew that they must beat RSA today and if needed beat WI too on the last day of Super 8s. Partnership between these two started building and on the other side RSA put good pressure on ENG in restricting the run rate to just 3/over.As predicted once Strauss and Collingwood were out ENG did not last long.

Flintoff is not at all in the form; only notable series from him was Ashes 2005 and after that it is just hype and he needs to regain his form so as to stay with English team. Bopara maintained his calm and coolness to drag ENG to a respectable total of 154.

Turing point of the game is Hall (pic to the left) who took crucial ENG wickets of Strauss, Collingwood and Flintoff. Not to forget an economical bowling spell from Pollock who gave just 17 runs in 10 overs.

SA batters is not doing good in WC2007. But this match de Villiers and Smith laid foundation and made this match one-sided in favor of RSA. With this match looks like besides winning, RSA just wanted to bump up their NRR to avoid any curse factor which will prevent them to be in semis.

RSA finished the match in less than 20 overs, Won by nine wickets.
RSA cemented their place in semis.

How does order looks like for semi finals:
The Semis Line-up is 1.AUS, 2.NZ, 3.SL and 4.RSA.
AUS Vs SA, SL vs NZ
Remote chance for WI vanished as England needs to beat RSA and WI to beat England and Bangladesh with a good run rate.

Looks like will be a repeat of WC1999, Aus vs. RSA semis. Hope RSA does not fail this time.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review

The match between Sl and AUS is just a formality match as this does not change outcome of teams going into semis.

After a couple of big wickets Jayawardene and Silva settle down and provided the needed good partnership.Silva is such a SL promising player averaging 50 plus in this world cup, He already has three fifties with another fifty added in this game.If Silva keeps his form he may one day might become SL captain. Anything above 250 is a realistic score for Australia to chase.Even McGrath giving loose runs could not help SL to score near 250.

At one point the ball stopped swinging and the SL decision to bat first looked right, SL just needed 2 or 3 big partnerships that would have helped them.Good comeback looked like by SL.Experienced players are there to pull team out of crisis and this is what Jaya and Silva tried their best today.

Looked like by dropping Vaas and Murali besides injured Malinga,Did SL plan to loose this game to be in second or third place to play with new zealand ? if they had won this they would have played semis against SA (considering SA makes it to semis beating Eng) OR SL wanted to show that they lost to AUS only because they don't have their main bowlers.

Even having Vaas and Murali would be a struggle to defend 226. The SL batting is not up to the mark in this WC and their main strength is bowling spell of Vaas and Murali.

Aus is racing towards WC final to get Hat Trick (of three world cups in a row).

The only other good game left in super eights is ENG Vs RSA.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, world cup 2007

Ireland has surprised themselves again.

This match is supposed to be played between India vs. Pakistan if they have made it to super eight.Seeing this match for the first time I felt Indian or Pakistani team did not deserve and rightfully exited for good.Indian and Pak fans must be thinking the same about this game who went to Caribbean and probably got a good return of their 'tickets' and 'hotel' money.

Remember Australia skipper Ricky Ponting made light of India's early exit from the World Cup, saying they did not deserve to be in the Super Eights.

Who is better ? Bangladesh or Ireland ?
Bangladesh played many international games than Ireland.since Ireland is underdog, Banglas will feel the pressure of winning.

Banglas as guessed faced problem with five left-hand batsmen of IRE by conceiving too many loose runs to lefties.Porterfield (pic. below) proving himself a very good international class player with a excellent knock of 85.O'Brien's quick 48 off 44 balls added much required scoring boost of 243 for 7 against Bangladesh.Ireland's weakness is spin and they were able to tackle Bangla's(rafique) spin very well and which managed them to score near 250.

Irish made banglas sweat.Banglas tried hard changing bowlers to break partnerships and were unsuccessful.Looks like when Ireland qualified for super eight, they have done productive homework against Bangladesh.After getting thrashed by Australia the Irish captain said that their target is beating Bangladesh.

This match is quite a important one for Banglas as to have any luck to reach semis as if they beat Irish and WI and with other teams fate.Banglas had a chance to exceed Eng NRR.A score of 243 is totally defend able by Banglas.Bangladesh chased 248 and won against Australia in a bouncy pitch like this.The pitch looked like a complete batting pitch,Ashraful,Iqbal, Aftab are the batsman that Irish should be watching for.

Early wickets by Irish turned things upside down for Banglas.Iqbal looks like he tried his best to get out (he tried many time with his reckless shots) knowing that others are getting out he and other bangla players should have maintained calmness in batting.Johnston finally got Iqbal for an yorker when Iqbal tried to go for another big one.

This match was a test for Bangladesh about how much they have progressed.They fell asusual like the sub continent cricket teams not playing in pressured times prey.Banglas chances in this game finished when Ashraful got out.I hoped that Bashar will play a captain's knock today. As helpless Dravid in SL match Bashar was just a dumb spectator watched Bangla loose the match.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review

By NZ winning this match, RSA Vs Eng match turns out to be exciting one.English now has semis chances.NZ is the second team after Australia to confirm berth in semis of WC 2007.

I was hoping for a tough match today and here goes another one sided game of WC2007.

RSA should have easily managed 230/240 today if Gibbs and Prince had continued till 40th over.The match started getting a bit boring with singles on the board moving at a very slow pace.Patel was very economical and didn't give any chance for RSA to show us any fire works.Seeing the way RSA played in few of the middle overs with quick six runs/over the hopes were raised again that in slog overs RSA will again do something like it previously did against Pakistan with 154 on board in last 11 overs.A very good innings from Gibbs under pressure.

Looks like SA were in a similar position today as NZ were against SL. NZ should have gotten an easy 250,but were not at all aggressive enough and paid the price.

How often does a new bowler break up a partnership ?McMillan (pic to left) , the man with Golden arm today did the trick for Men in black. Now SA has to start all over sad end after such a good partnership from Gibbs and prince.Boucher,man of fastest fifties in world cups failed to make RSA cruise to a big score.Mc Millan did the righteous damage to RSA batting that never showed any signs of recovery thereafter.

Shane bond with his impressive spell of 1/11 off 7 overs and Mc Millan on the other end destroyed RSA to make big score.Likely Knowing RSA's weakness against spinners NZ might have selected two spinners today.

NZ are lucky that three catches of one from Styris and Two off Fleming is being dropped by RSA.This is the turning point of the game as saying dropped catches results in dropped matches which NZ learnt it harder way with SL.RSA hopefully got their lesson today.Hall's bowling action looks so different or funny when he runs in to bowl, I don't know if it is just me that felt this way.At one moment looked like runs are not coming easily for NZ. Couple of quick wickets by RSA should have put some pressure.

Styris, the man in golden form contributed another significant knock for Kiwis.
McMillan with all round performance won the match for NZ and thus raised hopes in English.

RSA is becoming a weaker and weaker team with sloppy fielding, batting and bowling as the games progress.

I picked AUS and RSA for the finals, Now seems like AUS and SL are the teams.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review

Match between SL and NZ raised curiosity and interest in many cricket fans as both teams have proved time and again in WC2007 that they are one of tough teams so far.Does NZ deserve to be the top of the super eights points table? They have not beaten a good contender until this point and previously that they won against out of form teams - England, Bangladesh, West Indies and Ireland.

But NZ is a committed team like team with no real big stars but committed players.NZ will surely put up a fight against mighty Srilanka team and not choke.Before the game, Based on pitch conditions that If NZ can score around 230 plus and knock of Jayasurya early in the game then game in in favor of NZ.

Styris just needing 43 runs for 3000 one day runs exceeded expectations and proved again his golden form.Styris came in at 4/2 and stayed for the rest of innings in anchor role of getting 111 runs out of 157 balls. Look at NZ partnership between Fulton and Styris, within no time they have put on 31 runs with singles.This is where NZ team is getting very very good at like putting runs in single and using middle overs rather than depending on powerplay.

First ball of Murali - Mccullum LBW, Mccullum seems to be not happy with the decision.Murali has been cleared thrice or more by ICC because of his bowling action though if he is or NOT a chucker,He gives good break to Sri Lanka when needed.If Oram (See Pic to left along with Styris) had stayed little longer, NZ would have got 240 on scoreboard.Good innings from styris under the circumstances but still he should have made scoreboard tick a bit in slog overs.

Even though there were many duck outs and single digits on board,NZ pulled a RR of 4.3 which is good after a very bad start.If they had gotten 2 or 3 wickets within first 10 overs...they would have won this match.

The Sri Lankans kept things tight and raised the bar higher and even higher making it too difficult for the Kiwis to keep the scoreboard ticking.Knowing Lankans will never crumble under pressure and proved again in this match that they are good run chasers.As to every one's guess NZ will not give this match away without a fight.Srilanka never gave a chance when NZ bowling spell even ball got softer and harder to hit.Bond catches a stunner from Tharanga as the ball flew to him realy fast good timing catch but this early wicket is not banked well by NZ.The foundation laid by Jaya Surya (see pic to the right) made things difficult for NZ.NZ by now knows that dropping catches is like dropping a match, Jayasurya was dropped on 30 by Flemming.

Rest of the innings for Sri Lanka is a breeze with Sangakkara playing anchor role.

BCCI, Team India and Indian fans should take this lesson about senior players see Vaas, Jaya Surya and Murali all proved that they are in the Sri Lanka team because of their performances and not because of what they did in past for Sri Lanka team.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, world cup 2007, world cup cricket

Bangladesh is no more a minnow, Vaughan should have told himself after today's match.

England won the match today against Bangladesh with utmost difficult chasing a paltry total of 143 and consuming almost 45 overs.Three experienced (previously captained ) players in the team Vaughan , Strauss and Flintoff,but still a Pathetic situation that highest scorer in this match is Vaughan with a meagre score of 30.I'm happy that Man of The Match (MOM) was not given to highest England scorer Vaughan but instead the panel selected Sajid Mahmood who took early wickets and crippled the Banglas in making a decent score.

Bowling seems to be in control most of times in England favor but batting by English showed signs of panic.Almost three maiden overs from Bangladesh in last overs put tons of pressure on English.With onerous struggle Collingwood and Nixon were able to push off this win in England's favor.

This pushes England NRR down the drain and is now virtually out of semis.With them follows Bangladesh, WI and Ireland.This game put Banglas out of semis unless some miracles happen.All credit for great Bangla team for getting into super eights and then shocking SA with 67 runs.This match would have gone in Banglas favor if they had played out all 50 overs instead of 37 overs.But sure I believe they will learnt their lesson today and will take this home to emerge as a champions in next few years.

Labels: Bangladesh, Cricket, Cricket Match Review, world cup 2007

Where is my Indian cricket team of 2003 which finished runners-up to Australia?

The current team India are by far the worst team ever, any year. How many times can you watch a team struggle to make it to the next group just to lose the first game- whether it's the tri-series or a world cup? How many times can you sit through whole day feeling sick to your stomach watching your team go down as bad as it can.Some of the other cricket playing teams had at least one really bad series, but does that really compare to the Team India's back to back losing series or games?

India Bowling:
Too many extras from the bowlers and did not bank the situation when the big-wigs like sanath Jayasurya and Sangakkarra were out for small scores.Bowling seems to be in control until 35 to 40 overs and India just gave loose runs to Silva and Dilshan.Dravid didn't change bowlers to make these two batsman uncomfortable, Hope our inexperienced captain should have learned his lesson today.He needs to still grow up as captain.In bowling India should have restricted Sri lanka to 200 easily i.e. with out any effort.India failed miserably in bowling department.Agarkar did bowl economically and played his game above expectations.Talking of fielding when chasing big game like this an early Fielding saves from India would have put more pressure on Sri Lanka. No effort what so ever is seen in this department from team India.

Srilanka played today below average with their bat were still able to accumulate the above average total of 254.Pathetic Indian bowling and fielding made Srilanka win first half of the game.


India Batting:
Uthappa again failed, why did team repeatedly do this mistake of giving chances to this player again and again.verdict - fire him from the team.
Sehwag is the player who showed his calmness and tried to be at crease as long as possible.He did his and you cannot expect more from a player like Sehwag who is returning to his form.verdict - fire him and make him improve his game in ranji's
Ganguly playing an anchor man role for India in last two matches failed to live up to expectations.He played a rash shot usually Ganguly is good when lifting the ball to non fielders positions.verdict - retire
Tendulkar - I hoped that tendlya will be the man of the match and he was out for duck and proved again that he is not a man who can win crucial matches for India. verdict - forcibly retire him and make him coach young generation.
Dravid - A captain who looked energy less throughout the game and seems for India a bad choice as captain.When top order is failing he should have sent tail enders to get some quick runs on the board.Verdict - take away captaincy from him and make him play only test matches.
Yuvraj - Being at non striker end and an fantastic runner between wickets,Falling for a stupid run out? why did he give up his wicket like that? This is raising serious doubts. verdict - Give him second chance.
Dhoni - I wish his new house isn't grounded by irate fans by now.He is unpredictable as always.Verdict - he is good wicket keeper, give him second chance.

The rest are bowlers so we cannot depend them to bat and win for India.
Indian batting slide show:


They have beaten Sri Lanka at home and why didn't they do at Trinidad today ? India were outplayed in the one-day series 4-1 when they toured the Caribbean last year.The team India should have remembered the pitch conditions.They should have remembered how the wickets behaved. Is is better to chase runs or put them in? Where is all that research gone? In spite of winning toss team management can't just decide which one is better based on team performances recently and of the pitch conditions.

One billion people hopes coupled with huge advertisement revenue losses is what today team India played and failed.

It is better late than never , only way to make this game enjoyable is create a team from scratch which will play for India.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, India vs. Srilanka, team india, world cup cricket

Go Team India Go - GO HOME NOWRead half time report at part 1 for Indian teams batting analysis

What an all round performance from minnows team like Bangladesh against India.

More youth, more agility team of Bangladesh mainly three teenage bangla players Tamim Iqbal (17 yrs) , Mushfiqur Rahim (18 yrs) and Saqibul Hasan (19 years) pulled the trigger cruelly on disastrous Indian bowling side and fielding side.

Tamim Iqbal - He's just 17 years old and he looked straight into the faces of experienced Indian cricket men and spanked them brutally.He hit two towering sixes attacking on the confidence of the Zaheer and Agarkars the most international experienced bowlers.The world looked to Iqbal in the warming matches when he stunned the fast bowling mightiest like Shane Bond of New Zealand and won the warming game match against NZ.

Mushfiqur Rahim - Another teenager who shouldered all responsibity of Bangladesh win by playing a sensible slow game when Iqbal was attacking the India pacers.Amazing two over the boundary shots made Indian bowlers shiver in their pants.

Saqibul Hasan - An all round performance by this teenager impressed the spectators with his bowling spell that restricted India to a small total.His patient long partnership with Rahim was the turning point of game.

Mashrafe Mortaza (pic above)- What a bowling spell taking all the advantages of pitch giving an early advantage by taking the wickets of Sehwag and Uthhappa very early in the innings.

This is absolutely a real wake up call for India.Except for winning the toss,India lost at every department of the game batting, bowling and fielding.India which had clear advantage than other teams in this world cup as previous being played in West Indies just right before the world cup on various pitches clearly did not learn its lessons.

If India had any chances to get into the next group then a win against Bermuda is a must.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, world cup 2007, world cup cricket

-Report by Kalyan in collaboration with his Mama (Maternal Uncle),an avid Indian cricket fan

Lack of application and discipline shattered hopes of one billion.
Three hours batting chaos pushed all Indians into sea of disappointment.Least said about the batting in their opening encounter with a minnow team like Bangladesh is the best said.

Sehwag - As usual bowler had no difficulty at all in picking up the wicket.It seems Sehwag finds his place more comfortable at pavilion preferably as twelevth man than spending time in the middle of the pitch.Gifting the wicket became the order of the day for Sehwag.What all he was supposed to do is just to play five overs irrespective of the runs and scoring rate, this was time and again educated to Sehwag by every body ranging from Col. Vengsarkar to way side tea shop boy.What he did is no difference from previous matches, now it is time to decide right place for a player who has no interest to learn lessons from his mistakes.

Utthappa - A promising player going for a rash shot.
Without reading the pitch and adjusting to the pace Uttappa played an irresponsible shot of gulli cricket player resulting a double dhamaka bonanza to Bangladesh.




SRT - Surprisingly Sachin was not at all comfortable right from first ball he faced.Even after surviving almost certain LBW Tendlya failed to en cash.He was fooled by an in cutter and offered a simple catch to wicket keeper.





Dravid - Cracks on the wall.Whether captaincy costing him ??
Yuvraj - Man of crisis.Yuvraj gave excellent support to Ganguly in building up the innings from utter chaos to respectable position
Dhoni , Agarkar and Bhajji - Take one (Dhoni) get two (Agarkar and Bhajji)
Final Surprise




Ganguly - Proved himself as a comeback hero when wickets are falling at regular intervals and Sehwag, dravid , Tendulkar are in Pavilion, the prince of Calcutta showed sheer application and discipline in building up the innings.





Munaf and Zaheer - they gave great resistance and made India reach 191 from 159.


Let's keep our fingers crossed for second part of the game.

Labels: Cricket, Cricket Match Review, world cup 2007