CSK vs Trinidad & Tobacco - some photos

Giri & Sankara Kannan - Authors of this blog watched CLT20 match between CSK & TT @ Chepauk last sunday. Some photos for you!

The IPL 2011 Story

Jai Hind

Third Man – Edition 9 – Indo Pak Special  

Today’s Edition is a special for Indian fans as it covers the much awaited India Pakistan clash at Mohali tomorrow. Before getting in to the Match preview, let’s get into World Cup News...

World Cup news

      After the world cup disaster, Ricky ponting has stepped down as the Captain of Australia; however, he will continue as a batsman in both versions of the game.

      New Zealand Srilanka clashes in the 1^st Semi final at Colombo; Sri Lanka starts as favourites but New Zealand is determined for an upset win.

      The prime Mister of India and Pakistan are likely to watch the Match at Mohali, adding to the buzz and hype prevailing in both the countries for this match.

      If India (or Pakistan) and Sri Lanka meets in the final, this will be the first time where 2 Asian countries contest in the final for the coveted Trophy.

 The Big match- Clash of the Asian Giants – Is it just a match or War??

 IS this the best rivalry in Cricket? Australia and England may disagree, but the truth is Indo Pakistan clash is the biggest rivalry of Cricket and both the team plays, the heart beat increases, adrenalin pumps for the millions of fans across the world.  Afridi might have played down the hype that is prevailing around for this match by terming this is just a game and a war, HeBut he knows the winners will be worshipped as GOD and the losers will have a tough time.

  History favours India as we have never lost to Pakistan in a world cup match. Out of the 4 world cup chases (3 in League and 1 Knock out during 1996 world cup) India has won all the 4 and Pakistan has returned home with empty hands. But this world cup is different, the two favourites for this tournament- Australia and S Africa has gone home with their defeat at the Quarter Finals stage. Afridi might be intelligent in saying his team is there to change history, but Team India has the potential and Talent to beat any team in the world.

  Who can forgot the sixes hit by Sachin and Sehwag to third man, which set the tone for a comfortable 5 wicket victory?  Who can forget the murderous Assault by Jadeja, taking on Waqar Younis in 1996 and helped the team to

put up  huge score? Who can forget the confrontation between Amir Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad and Prasad dismissing Sohail, the next ball and giving the marching orders to the Pavilion?

    The best of India Pakistan clashes

India Pakistan clashes has always brought the best out of the players and lets rewind the calendar to see the best of the clashes between the 2 Asian giants.

The rivalry started when Javed Miandad hit a last ball six off chetan sharma to take his team to an unbelievable victory at sharjah. After this, Indo Pak clashes has become more than just a sport and the fans goes crazy across the borders. Here are some of the memorable Ind Pak chases

      Saeed Anwars 194 at Chennai which became the world record for the Highest Individual score in ODI till it was broken by Sachin’s 200* against South Africa.

      Anil Kumble’s perfect 10 at 1999, Feros Shah kotla.

      Shoaib Akthars firely spell at Kolkatta removing Sachin and Dravid in consecutive deliveries bowled over 150 kph.

      Irfan Pathan’s first over hat trick on the historic tour of Pakistan in 2005

      The heroics of Sachin that took India to a spectacular victory in 2003 world cup

      The suicidal shot by Misbah of Joginer sharma that safely landed in to the hands of sreesanth; India became the winners of the T20 world cup 2007.

      The tied match at the same T20 world cup tournament, where both the teams had to “Bowl out” and India won on this occasion too.

 India Pakistan world cup Team 2003 VS 2011 – A comparison

  Here is an interesting comparison between the India Vs Pakistan teams that contested in 2003 and 2011 WC.

Pakistan                      India

Saeed Anwar		SR Tendulkar
Taufeeq Umar		V Sehwag
Abdul Razzaq		SC Ganguly*
Inzamam-ul-Haq		M Kaif
Yousuf Youhana		R Dravid†
Younis Khan		Yuvraj Singh
Shahid Afridi		D Mongia,
Rashid Latif†		A Kumble
Wasim Akram		Z Khan,
Waqar Younis		J Srinath
Shoaib Akhtar		A Nehra
Mohammad Sami		Sanjay Bangar
Saleem Elahi		Harbhajan Singh
Saqlain Mushtaq		Ajit Agarkar

                              

  Players highlighted in green denotes they played in 2003 and still a part of the 2011 campaign; Interesting to note that 6 players from 2003 Team are still Playing for Team India; Only 3 players are playing in the current Pakistan team. As far as batsman is concerned it is fine as Sehwag and Sachin are priceless possession and both of them are continuing their good form.

   Considering Yuvraj as a bowler, as he bowls his full quota of over’s almost in every game in this world cup, 4 bowlers are still playing for India from the 2003 version. The bowling line up is exactly the same with Srinath and Kumble retired. Zaheer, Nehra and Harbhajan are still leading the bowling attack for Team India. With regard to Pakistan, only Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Akthar are the surviving players in both the world cup.

  Has India’s bowling line up not changed for 8 years because they are the best bowling attack in the Country? Certainly not. The Indian selection system has been so poor that apart from promoting Irfan and Ishant, they have not given opportunities’ to new bowlers and try them out over a period of time. Our bowling is the main worry for Team India, considering their uninspiring performances in this world cup so far. The truth of the fact is, Zaheer, Nehra and Harbhajan are still playing not because they are the best in the country, but there of no options available or no new talent have been tried out by the current system.  Hope at least in next world cup, we see a different bowling attack with fast bowlers bowling in the mid 140’s and spinners turning the ball and taking wickets.

Match Preview- India Vs Pakistan , Mohali, 30^th March 2011

At last, India is playing a match against Pakistan and first time in history, they are contesting in the Semi finals of a world cup campaign. This will be a contest between the talented and penetrative Pakistan bowling attack Vs The best batting line up of the tournament. Fans from both the countries are praying for their team to win and around 5000 fans are trying to cross the borders to view this match live. Thanks to the black marketing of tickets prevailing in our country, an average cricket fan cannot watch this match live. Cricket has become expensive affair and only people in the upper middle class or upper class gets an opportunity to watch the prestigious matches while the crazy fans has to cope up with the lathi charges, bruises on their body and return home without ticket.

     Fans across the borders are charged up for this match and I am sure every household in India and Pakistan and millions of fan across the world will be glued to their televison set just to watch this match. There will be plenty of absenteeism reported in schools, college and work place and sick, especially pre planned sick leaves at work place : ) 

  There will be unprecedented security arrangement for this match, as Prime ministers of both the country will be arriving to watch this match live. Players might say this is yet another cricket match, but there will be no doubts over the intensity of the match and the performers in this match will be hailed at National heroes. Who knows?? Ashish Nehra might play tomorrow and bowl the last over and take Team India to victory…A zero might become a Hero with his performance in this match.

Players to watch out for

India

Sachin

 The master might get his 100^th International hundred and help Team India to win.  There are sentiments going around that Sachin gets a hundred and India loses. I would still back Sachin to get a 99 and get out, if it can help Team India to win.

Sehwag

   The Dasher from Delhi has not fired apart from the opening match and if it is his day India is going to beat Pakistan.

Yuvraj

 The player of the tournament for India with the ball and bat. He has been the finisher for Team India and if he fires tomorrow with ball and bat, certainly India is going to win.

Zaheer

Zaheer is our best bowler and if he takes couple of early wickets, it will be advantage Team India. He is the best to bowl in powerplays along with Aswhin.

Aswin   

“Aswin- India Win”. Aswin has been the turning point for India in this tournament with his confidence and variety in the power play over’s. He has never backed away from taking responsibilities and looks like he is the one who is giving balance to the depleted Indian bowling attack.

Pakistan

Afridi

   The inspiration leader for Pakistan and he has already leading wicket takers for this tournament with 21 wickets. Don’t forget , he can bat too. If he clicks with both bat and ball, it wont be a good news for us.

Shoaib Akthar:  This controversial bowler has announced his retirement and will be raring to play and give his best for his country one last time against India. We can expect 140 + speeds from him tomorrow and hope those are clobbered to the boundaries.

  

 Misbah and Younis

Misbah and Younis are the one who has got to score runs in the middle order with the openers and rest of the batting has not got the experience and tempartment to play in big matches. 

Umar Gul

 The best bowler of Pakistan for some time and he has got the ability to bowl in power plays and also the reverse swinging Yorkers when the ball gets old. If Gul strikes early, it will be advantage Pakistan.

Lets hope and pray for an Indian victory

Lonely at the Top

This should probably go out as a tweet, only, I don't think it has enough wit to pass-

The Ashes is a series between two teams bloated by reputation, but third rate for all that- how unfortunate.

Indo-Pak matches should take its place, Lanka and New Zealand don't seem to belong, whichever way you look at it- but then you don't really know who the Pakistanis are playing for on any given day, true?

How lonely it is on top of the pole, every other team is fallen in a crumbling heap.

A disappointing Proposition

I hate to see Pakistan play cricket- you are rarely certain who they are playing for- in other words, who is pulling the strings. Their win against Australia means that they will play their Quarter Final match against England in Sri Lanka. Pakistan might lose to any team in the world on their bad day, or good day- depending on who gets what-, and hopefully England will shove them out of the Cup. They should. Though they are missing Broad, Swann is doing a great job and Anderson is quite capable of a destructive spell or two, but they have to get their batting right.

Pakistan's win is bad news for India. If we win today, we will play Australia next, and if we lose, it will be Sri Lanka. I want to think Australia is living on its reputation, and Sri Lanka is merely a dangerous customer. Given India's bowling woes, I'd rather we play Australia: but then, how well will we play Tait, Lee and Mitchell Johnson?

India to play Aussies or Lankans in World Cup Q-F

England lives to Trot another day...

I wouldn't say that we had a good match yesterday, it was a game of inconsistencies. But much of cricket pans out that way, if any particular team performs consistently well on any particular day, it more or less wins the game easily- but international cricket rarely showcases such a match. I think it has something to do with the number of matches- lots of players are on the injured list, and it is not possible for any team to do well with replacements, though in some cases, replacements do well than the first choices.

Okay, to come to England, there is every chance that they may win the cup this time- they have done well against better teams while losing to Ireland and Bangladesh. Possibly they are a jaded team and it is a bit of a problem for them to get fired up against lesser opponents. They need a strike bowler, Swann is good, but they need someone who can bowl fast and get wickets. Bopara and Wright are lambs for slaughter if you are in a position of 100-2 in twenty overs or something like that. You need wickets for Bopara and Wright to be really useful.

It might not be a bad idea to have Prior warming the benches. He has done precious little batting up the order or down it, and Morgan can keep wickets quite efficiently, especially if you have Wright, Bopara and Treadwell bowling. Bell is wasted down the order, he comes too late, may be he should open with Strauss and Tremlett come in for Prior. That might strengthen their bowling.

Or else they can have a regular, attacking opener fly in place of Shahzad, who is injured. Kieswetter would be a godsend.

Swanny's got to sing...

Just a few short notes.

England lost to Bangladesh yesterday, a narrow defeat, it could have been an easy win but for the ninth wicket partnership between Mahmadullah and Shafiul Islam. They mustered up fifty six runs at about a run a ball. It is a good bowling performance except for the result, one would think. Bangladesh were 169-8, remember.

So, it not all dire and dismal for the Englishmen- their batting, which looked great on paper disappointed by at least forty runs, I think. The idea to use Collingwood as a specialist bowler is a bold one, almost kamikaze, and it did prove suicidal. Collingwood came in to bat six down after Swann and trundled up fourteen runs off thirteen balls, not what you expect of a slogger. And bowling, he was measly, 24 off 7, not disappointing, but a wicket or two would have helped.

I think Collingwood, given that runs have dried up on him, would do a better job padding up with Strauss and having a go during the first ten overs or so. A few edges or mishits might clear the infield and run away to the boundary.

It might be a better idea to have Luke Wright in team in place of Collingwood- I think that is where they are heading to.

Despite the unanimous expertise of the pundits, I wouldn't say England have no chance of winning the cup- especially with Morgan, Bopara and Wright in the team: they can hit it out when you want them to. The English bat deep, and the bowling is not as bad as it is made out to be. What they need is someone to replace Broad and play the role of strike bowler, Tremlett might do the job with a bit of luck.

I think once Swann comes alive, it'll be a different game altogether- 

I am going to conduct a cleansing ritual. All I need is a pizza (room service) shower gel (bathroom) and an intelligent batsman (problem)Thu Mar 10 13:06:03 via webGraeme Swann
Swannyg66

The Two Best Innings of this World cup

Detailed Analysis on the two best innings of this world cup, so far….
O’Brien Playing the innings of his Life:
Its worth dedicating a paragraph for the brutal innings played by O’Brien that can be compared to similar innings played by cricketers such as Sir Vivian Richards, Sehwag, Gilly, Afridi, Jayasuriya and Gayle. All these players were from established nations and had enough cricketing exposure and infrastructure to get themselves in the best shape to play such a kind of innings. But an innings of 50 ball 100 coming from a Minnow’s batsman, that too against a test bowling attack is praiseworthy and no praise is high enough for this innings that is going to change the whole facet of Irish cricket.
Just to mention about his innings, it consisted of 13 boundaries and 6 towering sixes that would have made the nation proud. The manner in which he played the slog sweeps to spinners to dismiss the ball in to the stands, the towering sixes to long on and mid wicket of the quicker bowlers (one of those sixes hit the 100 meter mark, the longest six of the tournament) was full of arrogance and completion domination and a statement to the opponents with the bat, “Hey guys! Today is my day and whatever I do will succeed... Better luck next time”.

Brutal Assault by Ross Taylor on his Birthday against a Skilful Pakistan attack:
Scoring a hundred on a Birthday is always special but Ross Taylor made it a memorable one with one of the most incredible hitting in the world cup history by scoring 62 balls in the final 16 balls he faced against Pakistan on their group match held on 09th March. It is worth analysing statistically his innings rather than writing an ode on his slog shots over midwicket. Here are the statistical highlights of his innings:
His first 104 balls in 34 over’s brought him just 69 runs (87% of the balls faced) and the second half fetched him 62 runs off just 16 balls (13% of the balls faced)
In the first half of this innings, he hit just 2 boundaries, while the second half fetched him 7 sixes and 4 boundaries of just 16 balls..Wowww…
His break-up of runs against last two over’s of pace bowling by the Pakistani bowlers
Against Shoaib Akthar: 4 6 6 0 4 6 , Against Razzaq: 4 6 6 2 4 6 ( looks like a Telephone number, isn’t it? )
The last hundred runs were scored in just 29 balls. Taylor and Jacob Oram put on 85 runs in 3.5 over’s…Mind-boggling figures indeed…

India Netherland- A short Review

A short review on the India-Netherland match that took place at Delhi
Netherland Innings:
Netherland skipper Borren won the toss and elected to bat on a sluggish Delhi wicket. India had included Nehra in the eleven in place of Munaf and it was an absorbing contest in the first 15 odd over’s where Netherland kept fighting and India’s tried hard to take a wicket. Finally, the first wicket fell at 56, when Szwarczynki was bowled by chawla. After the loss of first wicket, Netherland innings lost momentum and they started losing at regular intervals and no real partnership developed after this. Indian bowling was not brilliant but good enough to trouble Netherland. Once again Yuvraj bowled well and wickets were shared by all the bowlers. Peter Borren played a cameo knock of 38 which included 3 boundaries and 2 sixes. Finally, they got bowled out for 189 in 46.4 over’s with Zaheer, the pick of the bowlers taking 3/20.

Indian Reply:
Blazing start
Sachin and Veeru got off to a blazing start scoring 69 runs in 8 over’s. Sachin started matching the tempo of sehwag and started hitting boundaries through covers, square leg and lofting the ball over mid-on. The flurry of boundaries kept the Delhi crowd buzzing… and Sehwag started hitting sixes through long off and voice decibels were at its peak at the stadium…
Flurry of Wickets
Suddeny, flurry of wickets and the Indian innings came to a standstill. Veeru played one uppish drive to the covers and Sachin tried to hit a straight six and was caught at mid off. Yusuf was sent in to up the tempo and he gave a simple return catch; all the three wickets going to Seelar. Gambhir and Kohli didn’t last too long and Indians were 99/4 at one stage, and it would have been embarrassing had they lost couple of more wickets.
Yuvi Takes India to Victory
However, the inform Yuvi and the determined Dhoni ensured India scampered home with 14 over’s and 5 wickets remaining. Yuvi scored his 3rd half century in a row with 7 boundaries.

Picture of the Day

Thanks: Cricinfo.com

World Cup Cricket Cocktail

 World cup Info of the day

 Sachin Tendulkar became the Worldcup cricket history to reach 2000 runs in his 40th match against Netherlands today.

            

                                

Learn Cricket- Switch Hit

In cricket, a rare variation of the reverse sweep, in which the stance is changed during the bowler's delivery action, has been known as switch-hitting. England's Kevin Pietersen is a notable user of this shot. The shot has generated much debate in the cricket world, some heralding it as an outstanding display of skill and others arguing that if the batsman changes stance he gains an unfair advantage over the bowler because the field is set based on the batsman's initial stance at the crease. On June 17, 2008 the MCC deemed that the shot was legal under the laws of the game and that Pietersen was free to continue to use the shot at his own discretion

Quote Unquote:

I told him that he should not cross a few boundaries. If you want to irritate someone that should be the opposition and not your side. 

MS Dhoni thinks Sreesanth's on-field antics can sometimes distract the wrong set of players

World cup News:

  Umar Akmal, the younger brother of Pakistani wicketkeeper Kamral Akmal could replace him as the wicketkeeper in the remaining group games to offset the disastrous Glove work of Kamran

  Ross Taylor has hit his first ODI hundred since 2008 to post a huge total for his team against Pakistan on his 27^th Birthday. Pakistan innings stumbled in this huge run chase and they lost by 110 runs.

  Australian Team has been boosted by the return of Micheal Hussy, as a replacement for injured Doug Bollinger. Named Mr Cricket for his consistency, Hussey could well prove the game changer for the Aussies in the matches to come.

Match Preview - India Vs Netherland

Match Preview

India Vs Netherland- 09^th March 2011, Delhi,2.30Pm

               

  India meets Netherland at Delhi on 09^th March and it is expected to be a cake walk for the Indians, with Netherland haven’t registered any upset victories in the world cup so far. Netherland hasn’t got much of world class players to trouble the Indians apart from the South African born Ten Doeschate and TN de Grooth , who are good batters and few slow bowlers who can put the ball in the right areas. India will enjoy the home support in front of a packed stadium cheering for their Gods Veeru and Sachin to score big hundreds.

The Pitch: The pitch is expected to be support the batters even thought it might get slow later on. Both the team doesn’t posses real quick bowlers the extract bounce from this wicket.

Players to watch out for

India- Virender Sehwag   

  Sehwag has expressed his intention to play long innings in this world cup and has played one against Bangladesh at Mirpur. After missing out against England and Ireland, he is expected to score big in front of his home crowd.

  Having said this, Sachin is always expected to score a hundred and he is in good nick too. With Yuvraj coming back to form and Yusuf ready for yet another onslaught, we can expect a run feast in India bats first.

Zaheer Khan and Ashwin

 Zaheer has always been the pick of our seam bowling attack and once again he is expected to do the damage with the ball. With Chawla leaking runs in last few matches, he might be overlooked for Aswhin, who takes wickets and gives nothing away when he is having the ball.

Netherland- Ryan Ten Doeschate

 A real quality batsman in this Holland team, who has scored few hundreds in the past, the latest being the one scored against England at this world cup. Born and brought up in South Africa, Ten Doeschate has the real ability the play the powerful horizontal shots and can also hit the big sixes when needed. He is also one of the genuine all-rounder in the team who bowls decent medium pace.

  

  Apart from Doeschate, rest of the team needs to pull up their socks together and to perform as           a unit to trouble this Indian batting line up, let alone try for a win.

   Lets hope Dhoni wins the toss and bats first and scored something around 350-400 and delight the millions of fans across the world.

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India VS Ireland

Match No 22- India VS Ireland, 6^th March, Chinnaswamy Stadium – Bangalore

 Before the World cup stated, ticket sales for this match was dull as this was expected to be a cakewalk for the Indians. But things changed once Ireland humiliated England by chasing 300 odd runs and plenty of expectations and buzz in Bangalore for this match. Online tickets were sold out, counter tickets were sold out few days before the match and KSCA tried their best to accommodate extra spectators. This match had an impact on the Eng-S Africa clash at Chennai as people preferred watching the India match in TV and started selling their tickets for lesser prices….

 Dhoni won the toss, elected to field first on a slowish wicket and retained the same eleven that played against England, raising some eyebrows as our bowling was nothing but ordinary in that match. Zaheer Khan, the spearhead of the Indian Bowling attack for the last 2 years, struck early dismissing Stirling and Ed Joyce and the score board read 9/2. Ireland were in a spot of bother.. However the skipper Porterfield and Neil O’Brien put on a 100 plus partnership and played with ease and comfort against the Indian bowlers who were off colour.

   Just when it looked Ireland were eying a huge score, they lost O’Brien who was ran out by Kohli for well made 46. This was the turning point of the match as wicket started falling at regular intervals with once the skipper stowing resistance with a fighting 75.

 Yuvi show with the Ball

    Yuvraj has shown in the past that he is more than a capable part time spinner and on a slower track he was more effective and bowled a great line and length, assisted by the wicket that gave him more turn and bounce. Wickets started falling to Yuvi’s guiles and he ended up taking 5 wickets for just 31 runs, even the main strike bowlers would have been proud of these figures. Ireland collapsed from 129/3 to 207 all out in in 48 over’s. Zaheer was the other pick of the bowlers taking 3/30.

    

India bats:

   207 is not a tough target for any batting line up that has Sehwag at 1 and Pathan at 7 and Indians were expected to make a easy run chase. However, this was not to be. Ireland may be still minnows but they showed they had plenty of energy and enthusiasm to put up a good fight against India.

   Disastrous start- Veeru Departs:

     

India got off to a disastrous start with Sehwag giving a simple caught and bowled chance to Johnson who celebrated with the famous chicken dance. Gambhir too departed early with the scoreboard reading 2/24. However, Indians had one Mr Sachin Tendulkar who can steady the ship and play a long innings.      

 Sachin- Kohli Partnership

    Virat Kohli has been at the form of his life and when he joined Sachin at the crease, it seemed certain that Indian’s won’t lose too many wickets in the run chase. Both started rotating the strike at will and struck the odd boundaries whenever loose deliveries were bowled. They had put on 63 runs and going good when Sachin played a poor sweep shot to a length delivery from the 18 year old leg spinner Dockrell and was declared LBW by the umpire. Sachin decided not to review this one as he felt it was plumb and departed to the pavilion.

   

 Yuvi’s turn with the bat:

  It was Yuvi’s day and whatever he touched turned into Gold. Even though Kohli was run out due to a misunderstanding with Yuvi, Yuvi’s presence ensured India was never going to struggle for runs. MS joined Yuvi and both these experienced campaigners played slowly and steadily towards the target.             Both struck very few boundaries, but ensured that the scoreboard keeps moving and Irish bowlers were running out of steam. Yuvi made 50 not out, and became the first players in world cup history to score a 50 and take 5 wickets in the same match.

  

  Dhoni goes but Yusuf Storms India to Victory:

   Once again the 18 year old leggie impressed with castling Dhoni with a straighter one and Yusuf pathan came in to some loud cheers from the crowd anticipating fireworks from his blade. Yusuf obliged, scoring 30 of 23 balls with 3 of his trademark towering sixes to long on and 2 boundaries. Yusuf came and Yusuf gone….The match is all over.. Credit must go to the steady innings from Sachin, Yuvraj and the blistering cameo from Yusuf. India reached 201/5 in 47.5 over’s…..

 Fighting Irish Team:

 However, credit must be also given to the Irish team who put up a good fight with the ball, never allowing the Indians to dominate the match. They bowled with intensity, fielded with passion and at the end of the day, did not really lose the match. It was a wonderful try and they will definitely get better from here..

Awful Indian bowling

 Batsmen set up matches, but it’s the bowler who wins matches. Indian Team is capable of scoring 300 plus every match but with the kind of bowling they have, they are most likely to squander these matches. Harbhajan was not threatening on a helpful pitch; Munaf was unimpressive while chawla gave too many runs. But for Yuvraj’s spell of 5 wickets, Indians could have ended up chasing 250 plus.