Tuesday, June 7, 2011

1st ODI - India Vs West Indies

India 217 for 6 (Rohit 68*, Dhawan 51) beat West Indies 214 for 9 (Sarwan 56, Samuels 55, Harbhajan 3-32) by four wickets.

Samuels, though, brought in the urgency, attacking Yusuf, becoming the first batsman to have a strike-rate of over 50. After a spell of 12 overs for 56, at 130 for 3, they asked for the Batting Powerplay. Forty-three came off the five-over block, but West Indies also lost Sarwan to a tickle down the leg side. The real blows came after the Powerplay as Raina snuck a short delivery through Samuels' legs, and Harbhajan did Bravo in with a doosra that dipped and kicked. The rest could add only 23 to the 191 for 6 in the 45th over, providing India with a seemingly easy chase. As it turned out, it took a dehydrated, cramping-up, and a slightly fortunate Rohit to pull it off.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Tendulkar at BCCI awards


Sachin Tendulkar has been named India's cricketer of the year at the BCCI awards in Mumbai, while former allrounder Salim Durani, who helped shape India's maiden Test win in the West Indies in 1971, received the lifetime achievement award.

India Tour Of West Indies 2011

Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Gambhir out of entire WI tour

Test squad
MS Dhoni (capt), VVS Laxman (vc), M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel.

Limited-overs squad
Suresh Raina (capt), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh (vc), Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan.

The absence of several senior players for the upcoming tour of the West Indies provides an ideal platform for fringe players to shine on the international stage, Suresh Raina, India's captain for the limited-overs leg of the Caribbean tour, has said.

"It's a great opportunity for the youngsters who have done well in domestic cricket," Raina told the media ahead of the team's departure for the West Indies. "I am happy with the side, as we have some very good batsmen in Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, S Badrinath and Shikhar Dhawan, all of whom have done well in first-class cricket."

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Chennai Super Kings - King of IPL2011

Once again 'Chennai Super Kings' keeps the 'winner' title.
Chennai v Bangalore, IPL 2011, Final, Chennai.
Chennai Super Kings 205 for 5 (Vijay 95, Hussey 63) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 147 for 8 (Ashwin 3-16) by 58 runs

In contrast Bangalore slipped on the little things that matter on this stage. In the Powerplay, there were three instances of fielders succumbing to adrenalin rushes and indulging in needless throws; one, from Saurabh Tiwary, even went to the boundary. Pomersbach could have done a better job in seizing that chance from Vijay in the 10th over, and S Aravind messed up an opportunity to run out Hussey in the 12th over. Vijay, the non-striker, had called Hussey for a risky single and Aravind, the bowler who picked up the ball at short mid-on, flung it wide at the non-striker's end. There was another instance in the 11th over when the bowler, Mohammad, flung himself full stretch to his right but couldn't hang on to a difficult chance offered by Vijay. It was that kind of day. Things just didn't go right for Bangalore and everything went according to script for Chennai.



Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Kolkata v Mumbai, Eliminator, IPL 2011

Mumbai Indians 148 for 6 (Blizzard 51, Tendulkar 36, Kallis 2-18, Shakib 2-24) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 147 for 7 (ten Doeschate 70*, Munaf 3-27) by four wickets

The asking-rate crept past run-a-ball for the last two overs, but a top edge off Lee's first ball brought it back to 11 off 11. L Balaji, who failed to defend 21 in the last match, didn't get a shot at redemption. The last over went to Shakib - his figures 3-0-17-2 until then - who needed to defend seven. Harbhajan lofted the second ball over midwicket, and let out a roar.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Chennai Super Kings in Final of IPL-2011


Bangalore were in danger of slipping into free-fall after Gayle fell cheaply, trapped by R Aswhin, but Kohli and Luke Pomersbach ensured they stayed afloat. While Kohli batted with calculated aggression, Pomersbach counterattacked, taking 17 runs in the 15th over, off Dwayne Bravo. A murderous heave to wide long-on, a slash to third man and a flat six over midwicket were the highlights. Kohli, though, was the person who sculpted and shaped Bangalore's innings. Two shots in particular reflected the assurance in his knock. In the 13th over, he sashayed back to a back-of-length delivery from Raina to unfurl a peachy punch to the cover-point boundary. Then, off the final ball of the 16th over, he leaned forward to play a classy lofted whip over wide long-on Ashwin. He went on to produce two more screaming sixes - over long-on and covers - off Morkel in the 19th over, to push Bangalore to a good total but Raina decided to gatecrash the party.

Bangalore v Chennai, 1st qualifier, IPL 2011, Mumbai.
Chennai Super Kings 177 for 4 (Raina 73*) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 175 (Kohli 70*, Bollinger 1-20) by six wickets

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Teams for Qualifier Match of IPL2011

1. Royal Challengers Bangalore 19pts Run Rate +0.326
2. Chennai Super Kings 18pts Run Rate +0.443
3. Mumbai Indians 18pts Run Rate +0.040
4. Kolkata Knight Riders 16pts Run Rate +0.433