Day 1 (2nd Test):Taylor's Century Puts Kiwis In Driver Seat

The 2nd and final Test of the series started here today in Bangalore.This time Kiwi captain Ross Taylor won the toss and elected to bat first but they lost their opener batsman Brendon McCullum cheapely in the second over of the day as he went for a duck.He was given lbw out on the bowling of Zaheer Khan.After his departure,Kane Williamson also went back to pavillion early as he was given out on the bowling of Pragyan Ojha.He made 17 runs.

In the meanwhile,Martin Guptill completed his half-century but he got out soon after on the score of 53 runs. He was caught by Gambhir on the bowling of Ojha.After his departure,Kiwi captain Ross Taylor and batsmam Daniel Flynn took the charge of batting and made sure that there are no further fall of wickets till lunch.

After the lunch,both the batsmen continued their batting.Both were playing cautiously by waiting for the loose ball to come.In the middle of this,Kiwi captain Ross Taylor completed his half-century.They also completed their 100 runs partnership for 4th wicket but Daniel Flynn got out after making 33 runs.He was given lbw out off R.Ashwin's bowling.This was the first wicket for him in this match but Ross Taylor continued with his good batting performance as he took New Zealand to 200 runs mark.He also completed his century in the progress in 99 balls.

After tea,New Zealand lost the wicket of James Franklin to Ojha as he gave a catch to Suresh Raina.After some time,he also took the most important wicket of well set batsman Ross Taylor.He made 113 runs off 127 balls which included 16 fours and 2 sixes.

After this no wicket fell for Kiwis as their wicket keeper batsman van Wyk and Doug Bracewell batted well in the end.Kruger van Wyk also completed his half-century as he was unbeaten on the score 63 with Bracewell who is on 30 runs.The day's play was called of early due to bad light.

Brief Scores:-

New Zealand: 328/6 (81.3 overs) 1st Innings
R.Taylor: 113 (127)                   P.Ojha: 4/90 (27.0)
K.van Wyk: 63*(85)                 Z.Khan: 1/74 (18.0)
M.Guptill: 53 (79)                     R.Ashwin: 1/82 (24.0)

Yuvraj Gets Arjuna Award

The great left-handed Indian batsmen Yuvraj Singh recieved prestigious Arjuna Award from the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi. This award is given by Indian Government to the players for their outstanding achievements in sports.


Yuvraj looked very happy after receiving the award. He said, "It's a special award for me.I had been nominated a few times but finally I got it this time.It's a proud moment for me and my family.The award will give me a lot of confidence to make a come back and perform well."

He is currently undergoing practice sessions at National Cricket Academy,Bangalore after recovering from Cancer.He has been selected for 2 T20s against New Zealand and also for the ICC T20 World Cup to be held next month in Sri Lanka.

India Defeats New Zealand By An Innings & 115 Runs

                                                 

The fourth day of the Test match between India and New Zealand again started late because of rain but when rain got stopped and overnight not out batsmen Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson came out to bat everyone expected them to play patientely. They did play patientely.They just rotated strikes by taking single-double and didn't tried to look for big shots.They builded a good partnership between them but just when the partnership was looking a bit dangerous it was broken by Umesh Yadav.He got McCullum out lbw and sent him to the pavillion.He missed his half-century by just 8 runs.Kiwi captain Ross Taylor continued his bad form and got out for just 7 runs on the bowling of R.Ashwin.

Daniel Flynn and Kane Williamson tried to hold the innings but couldn't hold it longer as Kane Williamson was caught by Sehwag on the bowling of Ojha.He made a good half-century before his departure.After the loss of wicket of Williamson, none of the batsmen could bat well and whole team got out for 164 runs and hence lost the match by an innings and 115 runs.

Indian off spinner R.Ashwin picked up 6 wickets in the innings and a total of 12 wickets in the match.Kane Williamson was the top scorer for New Zealand in the second innings with his 52 runs.

Brief Scores:-

India: 438 all out (134.3 overs) 1st Innings
C.Pujara: 159 (306)                                    J.Patel: 4/100 (41.0)
M.S.Dhoni: 73 (147)                                   T.Boult: 3/93 (27.0)

New Zealand: 159 all out (61.3 overs) 1st Innings
J.Franklin: 43* (122)                                   R.Ashwin: 6/31 (16.3)
K.Williamson: 32 (92)                                  P.Ojha: 3/44 (21.0)

New Zealand: 164 all out  (79.5 overs) 2nd Innings
K.Williamson: 52 (163)                                R.Ashwin: 6/54 (26.5)
B.McCullum: 42 (130)                                 P.Ojha: 3/48 (28.0)

Match Result: India won by an innings and 115 runs.
Series Result: India leads 2-match series by 1-0.

Man Of The Match: Ravichandran Ashwin

Day 3:Ashwin Claimes Six Wickets As India Enforces Follow-on

All of us must have expected that New Zealand will do some kind of fight back in the Test or at least they will try to spend some time in the middle but to our disappointment none of these two things happened.New Zealan lost their first wicket of the day in the form of wicket-keeper batsman van Wyk in just second over of the day.He was trapped in the front of stumps by the Indian speedster Umesh Yadav as he was yet to open his account. He went out for a duck.

After his departure,Bracewell came in to the middle.He tried to build a partnership with overnight batsman James Franklin but didn't get successful as he missed a ball from Pragyan Ojha and got stumped by Dhoni.After this,Franklin didn't get any support from any other batsmen and whole Kiwi team got out for a score of just 159 runs.James Franklin remained not out till the end and he also was the top scorer with his 43 runs. R.Ashwin was the pick of the bolwers for India as he took 6 Kiwi wicktes. India enforce follow-on on the Kiwis and called them to bat again.

New Zealand got off to a bad start again in the second innings as Martin Guptill departed early.He was given lbw out of the bowling of Pragyan Ojha. The situation of Kiwis could have been worse if the rain and bad light hadn't stopped the play early.At te time of play being called of,New Zealand have made 41/1 with Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson still at the crease.They are still 238 runs behind with 9 wickets in hand.


Brief Scores:-

India: 438 all out (134.3 overs) 1st Innings
C.Pujara: 159 (306)                                    J.Patel: 4/100 (41.0)
M.S.Dhoni: 73 (147)                                   T.Boult: 3/93 (27.0)

New Zealand: 159 all out (61.3 overs) 1st Innings
J.Franklin: 43* (122)                                   R.Ashwin: 6/31 (16.3)
K.Williamson: 32 (92)                                  P.Ojha: 3/44 (21.0)

New Zealand: 41/1 (18.0 overs) 2nd Innings
B.McCullum: 16* (59)                                P.Ojha: 1/13 (9.0)
M.Guptill: 16 (38)

Day 2:Puajra And Spinners Puts India In Driver Seat

Cheteshwar Pujara and M.S.Dhoni started the second day's play in just the way they ended it  yesterday.Both of them played sensibly not looking for any heroics.They selected their shots wisely especially the come back guy Pujara.He played shots that were technically good and he waited for the right opportunity to hit the ball  for boundaries.Dhoni completed his half-century in 100 balls .A little later Pujara completed his well deserved 150 runs.In the meanwhile,both the players also completed their 100 runs partnership for sixth wicket.But just before India could cross the 400 runs mark,Pujara lost his wicket.He got out on the bowling of Kiwi spinner Jeetan Patel but before getting out he scored 159 runs off  306 balls with 19 fours and 1 six.Pujara and Dhoni added 127 runs for sixth wicket. After adding 24 runs for seventh wicket with R.Ashwin,Dhoni too got out on the bowling of Patel.He scored 73 runs before getting out.

After the loss of both Pujara and Dhoni none of the Indian batsmen could do well except R.Ashwin who scored 37 runs off 54 balls while batting at no.8. Jeetan Patel was the peak of the bowling for Kiwis as he took 4/100 which also incuded the crucial wickets of both Puajra and Dhoni.Besides him,Boult claimed 3 wickets.

In reply,Kiwi batsmen Brendon McCullum started the innings aggressively but he could not keep the flow going when Indian captain brought in the spinners on the attack. None of the Kiwi batsmen were able to play the spinners.As a result to which Kiwis lost their 4 wickets ony at the score of 55 runs.Firs to go was Brendon McCullum who gave a catch to Virat Kohli on the bowling of Pragyan Ojha.Soon aftrer,both Guptill and Kiwi captain Ross Taylor too followed him.Both of them gave their wickets to R.Ashwin. Daniel Flynn hitted two boundaries but he couldn't do much as Ashwin trapped him in front of the stumps.

After the loss of four quick wickets,Kiwi batsmen Kane Williamson and James Franklin tried to hold the innings and to reduce the damage.They both were playing good but Williamson got out just 2 overs before the end of day's play.He fell prey to Ojha.He added 44 runs for the 5th wicket with James Franklin.

At the end of the day's play James Franklin was still there at the crease on the score of 31 and he is looking in good touch.He has wicket-keeper batsman van Wyk with him who has yet to open his account. Both of these batsmen will have to play a sensible innings and also they will have to spend some time at the crease if they want to give India a good fight back in the Test afterall they are still 332 runs behind India.

Brief Scores:-

India: 438 all out (134.3 overs) 1st Innings
C.Pujara: 159 (306)                                    J.Patel: 4/100 (41.0)
M.S.Dhoni: 73 (147)                                   T.Boult: 3/93 (27.0)

New Zealand: 106/5 (42.0 overs) 1st Innings
K.Williamson: 32 (92)                                   R.Ashwin: 3/30 (14.0)
J.Franklin: 31* (75)                                      P.Ojha:      2/35 (15.0)

Day 1:Pujara Hits Century,India In Control

The first Test of much awaited series between India and New Zealand started today.Indian captain M.S.Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first.Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag gave India a steady start but in the 10th over of the match India lost their first wicket.Gautam Gambhir was caught behind by van Wyk on the bowling of Boult. A little while later,India lost the wicket of Sehwag who was looking in a good touch today.He was caught in the slips by Guptill on the bowling of  Bracewell.He made 47 runs off 41 balls.Then Sachin Tendukar came to the pitch but he couldn't do something special.He made just 19 runs off 62 balls.

After the loss of top three batsmen,it was the turn of Indian midde order to do show their batting talent and they didn't disappointed anyone except the Kiwis and their fans.Both Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara builded the base for a good score.They played their shots selectively.It looks like that Virat Kohli has made a habit of hitting runs against any team,at any pitch and in any conditions.He delievered one more good innings.He hit a brilliant half-century.

The main attraction of the day's play was the knock of Cheteshwar Pujara.He scored a brilliant century to set the tone for Indian batting.He played the knock just at the time when it was much needed from him and he showed that he could be the right player to replace the Rahul Dravid.He looked very calm and patient throughout the knock.He hit 15 fours and 1 six in the innings.

Both Kohli and Pujara added 125 runs for the 4th wicket partenrship before Kohli got out on his own score of 58 runs.He was caught by Guptill on the bowling of Chris Martin.After him,Rain too followed him quickly after making just 3 runs.

After this no further damage occurred to Team India as Pujara got a good support of captain M.S.Dhoni. Dhoni looked a bit aggressive in the start when hit a six and a four to start the innings but after that he played sensibly.

From the New Zealand point of view,they had a good start once they got three quick wickets but they couldn't capitalise on them.Their spinner Jeetan Patel was economical but couldn't get the much needed wickets.Since,Dhoni and Pujara both are at the pitch so then can expect a score of around 450 plus which also can get better if they didn't take some early wickets tommorow.



Brief Scores:-

India: 307/5 (87.0 overs) 1st Innings
C.Pujara: 119* (226)                                    T.Boult: 2/63 (16.0)
V.Kohli:     58 (107)                                      D.Bracewell: 1/53 (10.4)

India,Pakistan In Same Group Of ICC Champions Trophy 2013

The schedule for next year's ICC Champions Trophy to be held in England has been announced by England Cricket Board (ECB).The tournamennt consists of eight teams which are further divided into two groups of four teams each.The tournamnet will kick start with India and South Africa facing each other in the first match at Cardiff on June 6,2013.



The interesting part of the schedule is that the arch rivals India and Pakistan are kept in same group.They will face each other in Edgbaston on June 15,2013.So,everyone can expect for a thrilling encounter between these two teams.

Australians are the defending champions of the tournament and they will start their campaign against their arch rivals and host England on June 8,2013 at Edgbaston.

Further in addition to this ICC has announced that this will be the last edition of ICC Champions Trophy.

Group A : Australia,England,Sri Lanka,New Zealand

Group B : India,Pakistan,South Africa,West Indies

Full Schedule

Group Stage

June 6,2013 : India vs South Africa,Cardiff (Day)

June 7,2013 : West Indies vs Pakistan,Oval (Day)

June 8,2013 : England vs Australia,Edgbaston (Day)

June 9,2013 : Sri Lanka vs New Zealand,Cardiff (Day)

June 10,2013 : Pakistan vs South Africa,Edgbaston (D/N)

June 11,2013 : India vs West Indies,Oval (Day)

June 12,2013 : Australia vs New Zealand,Edgbaston (D/N)

June 13,2013 : England vs Sri Lanka,Oval (D/N)

June 14,2013 : West Indies vs South Africa,Cardiff (Day)

June 15,2013 : India vs Pakistan,Edgbaston (Day)

June 16,2013 : England vs New Zealand,Cardiff (Day)

June 17,2013 : Sri Lanka vs Australia,Oval (D/N)

Semi Finals

June 19,2013 : A1 vs B2,Oval (Day)

June 20,2013 : A2 vs B1,Cardiff (Day)

Final

June 23,2013 : SF1 vs SF2,Edgbaston (Day)

Preview of Ind-NZ First Test

Tommorow is the day when India and New Zealand will lock horns with each other in the first Test of the series at Hyderabad.All the word had been said and now it is the time for real action.The match will take place at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium,Hyderabad.The ground has hosted only one Test so far which also included these two teams.The Test ended in a draw.

About Indian Team

Team Form

Currently, Indian team is not going through it's best form.They havn't won a single test in last five Test matches.The last match that India won was against West Indies in Nov 2011.Since then,India has drew one Test and lost four consecutive Tests.But the something to cheer for India is that the these Test were abroad.But at home,India has a pretty good record.They have won 6 out of last 10 Test matches with losing only one and rest were draw.We all know that It is really tough to beat India in India.

Batting Form

India has always relied more on their batting than bowling but with both Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman retired,the middle-order looks weak.There are choices in the form of Cheteshwar Pujara,S.Badrinath,Ajinkya Rahane and Suresh Raina but none of them is much experienced except Raina.Ajinkya Rahane has shown some temparament in Indian Premier League (IPL) but this is Test Cricket so he has very much to prove.Cheteshwar Pujara has played well in domestic cicruit but he has failed to do the same at the top level.So,the fight for the spot is between Raina and Badrinath but as we all know that Raina is an excellent fielder and also a good off spinner so he has more chances to make it to the final XI.At the top order Sehwag and Gambhir will have the responsibility to give India a good start and set a platform for next batsman's to come.Sachin Tendulkar is back in team after a break so he would be fresh hence,we can expect some good runs to come out of his bat.While Virat Kohli has proven his point in shorter formats of game it is his opportunity to prove the same in longer format of the game.

Bowling Form

In the bowling department,the responsibility to take wickets will be mainly on Zaheer Khan,Umesh Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin.Ishant Sharma is also there but we all know he is back after his ankle injury after a long period of time so there is doubt whether he will play or not.There is a tough competition for second spinner spot between Pragyan Ojha and Piyush Chawla.It will be interesting to see who makes the final cut.
About New Zealand Team

Team Form

Like India, Kiwis are also not going through a good patch.They have lost their last series against West Indies.The also have a new coach for this series Mike Hesson replacing John Wright.They have weakness in both of their batting and bowling department.They have very much work to do if they want to do India a good fight in their home ground.

Batting Form

As we all know that Kiwi Captain has announced already that Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum will open the batting.He also said that playing of all-rounder James Franklin is also confirmed as this will give them an extra seam bowler.In the middle order, they have Kane Williamson and captain Ross Taylor himself.Kane Williamson had played some good innings in the past so they will be hoping for the same here also.Ross Taylor needs no introduction but he is also not in his best of the form.

Bowling Form

New Zealand is lacking exprience in their bowling section.Apart from Chris Martin,they don't have much experienced guys out there and as all us know that Daniel Vettori is not playing in this series,it will become more difficult them to restrict Indian batting line-up.In the absence of Vettori,Jeetan Patel will have take the responsibility of spin bowling as the other spinner in the side Tarun Nethula is yet to make his debut.Tim Southee can prove to be useful for them if he gets going in the series.

Final Verdict

Looking at the present scenario of both the teams one can easily say that India has an upper hand over the Kiwis.

Probable Teams

India

1.Virender Sehwag 2.Gautam Gambhir 3.Virat Kohli 4.Sachin Tendulkar 5.Suresh Raina 6.Subramanium Badrinath 7.M.S.Dhoni (c & wk) 8.Ravichandran Ashwin 9.Zaheer Khan 10.Umesh Yadav 11.Ishant Sharma/Pragyan Ojha

New Zealand

1.Martin Guptill 2.Brendon McCullum 3.Ross Taylor (c) 4.Kane Williamson 5.Daniel Flynn 6.James Franklin 7.Kruger van Wyk (wk) 8.Doug Bracewell 9.Tim Southee 10.Chris Martin 11.Jeetan Patel