New Zealand Vs India 3rd ODI Preview

Less than 6 hours are left in the start of 3rd ODI of the ongoing series between New Zealand and India. It is going to be a really crucial and important match for both the teams. At the one side, the Indian team would be thinking of bouncing back considering their poor performance so far while on the other hand New Zealand needs just one win to clinch the series. This match will also play a crucial role in deciding whether India will regain the No.1 spot in ODI or not.

Team India:

It has been a very disappointing performance by the Indians so far. None of the Indian player has played up to the expectations yet except Virat Kohli, M.S. Dhoni and Mohammed Shami. Both the openers have also failed to make an impact. The top score is 32 runs for the Indian openers till now that too by Shikhar Dhawan. The middle order of the Indian team is also not too strong. The batsmen Rahane, Raina needs to occupy the crease for a little more longer. India has chased in both the innings and both the time, they couldn’t save wickets from falling and eventually lost both the matches. Virat and Dhoni both led the Indian chase well but fell just short both the time.
The bowling department also need some improvement. Only Mohammed Shami has been able to pick up the wickets so far. All the other bowlers are just struggling to get wickets. If India needs to win the match then they should work on their middle order, batting at the end overs of the game.
Players to Watch Out For: Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shammi.

New Zealand:

The confidence level of the Kiwi players would be very high after winning the two games continuously. They have also dethroned the Indian team from their team ranking.  Now, the Kiwis would be looking to win the game,and clinch the trophy. This series has proved to be a good deal for them in every prospect. Their new player Corey Anderson has come out as the  new savior for the Kiwis. Kane Williamson has also went on to complete 50s in both the matches.
The bowling of Kiwi team has also been satisfactory especially their ability to take wicket towards the end of the Indian team’s batting.
Players to Watch Out For: Kane Williamson and Corey Anderson.

Yuvraj Singh-One Man Army

 Yuvraj Singh is the person who is known as The King of Sixes, Punjab Da Sher, Yuvi & many more other names by his fans and cricket experts. He is among one of the pillars of Indian Cricket today. He is the demolisher or I can say the name which defines him clearly according to me is "One Man Army". He has that extraordinary ability to change the game single-handedly no matter what it takes to change whether is it batting, bowling or fielding.


He is always there on field like Light which is ready to strike every time. He can destroy any bowling attack with his batting power, he can also make batsmen to dance on his tunes with his bowling and he can make any batsmen to regret his choice of hitting the ball in his direction by his lightening fast fielding. You can say he is a complete dynamite package which when explodes, destroys everything that comes in his way.
He showed his talent right from the beginning when he was selected the Man of The Tournament in U-19 Cricket World Cup in 2000 which was won by India. When he got selected for Senior Team, He couldn't get to bat against Kenya but in next match against Australia, which was a Power House at that time, he showed the world what he is capable of by hitting 84 runs off 80 balls and was selected the Man of the Match. He was also the star in India's victory over England in NatWest Series final at Lord's in 2002 which
is still one of the most historic wins by India ever.

After that, he never looked back. No one his six consecutive sixes that he hit to Stuart Broad of England at inaugural ICC T20 World Cup at Durban in South Africa in 2007.There are many more innings of him which can never be forget.

Besides on-field, he is also a fighter off-field. He was diagnosed with Cancer in 2011 and he went to Boston in USA for the chemotherapy. It was one of the most difficult for him in his entire lifetime but he fought hard and defeated the Cancer and returned to India in April.

After this, he was selected for ICC T20 CWC held in Sri Lanka in 2012.Though, India couldn't make it to the knock-outs but he was the highest wicket taker for India in the tournament. After he also scored a double hundred in Duleep Trophy in which he scored 208 off 241 balls.

He is a true fighter and One Man Army for sure. I wish him best of luck for his future and hope that he will continue to entertain all of us just like he has did for last 10 years.

Day 2:Cook 's Ton Puts England In Total Control

Team India started the Day 2 of the ongoing 3rd Test in the hope of taking their score to some respectable total but couldn't managed do so as they got out in just first of hour of the morning with M.S.Dhoni being the last mam to fall.He hit a half-century before his dismissal.He made 52 runs off 158 balls which helped India get past 300 runs,as they made 316 runs in total.Monty Panesar again proved like a headache for India as he picked total 4 wickets with 2 wickets in the morning today itself.Now,It was upto the Indian bowlers to take back India into the game but English openers had some other plans in their mind for Indian bowling attack.

Both the openers,Alastair Cook and Nick Compton,played sensibly and maturily especially Cook.Indian team got the chance of dismissing him early but Cheteshwar Pujara dropped his catch in slips off the bowling of Zaheer Khan when was just at 17 runs but after this he didn't looked back and went on to hit his 23rd Test century which makes him the leading century maker English batsmen in history surpassing Walley Hammond and team-mate Kevin Pietersen.He also completed 7000 Test runs and he is the youngest batsman to reach this milestone surpassing cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar with an age of 27 years and 347 days.

On the other hand,Nick Compton reached his maiden half-century but got out soon after as he was given leg before wicket off the bowling of Pragyan Ojha.He was the only man to got out for the English Team today as at the end of the day's play,Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott were not out at 136 and 21 runs respectively.

Brief Scores:-

India: 316 all out (105.0 overs)

S.Tendulkar: 76 (202)                                M.Panesar: 4/90 (40.0)

G.Gambhir: 60 (169)                                  J.Anderson: 3/89 (28.0)

England: 216/1 (73.0 overs)

A.Cook: 136* (236)                                 P.Ojha: 1/65 (19.0)

N.Compton: 57 (137)                               I.Sharma: 0/35 (15.0)

Anderson Helps England Take Control Of Day 1 Of 3rd Test

The 3rd Test of the series between India and England at Kolkata's Eden Garden here today. The Indian captain M.S.Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first.English team came into this match with only 4 bowlers.Both the teams made only changes as England brought in Steven Finn in place of Stuart Broad and India brought Ishant Sharma in place of Harbhajan Singh.

Both the Indian openers started well by adding 47 runs for first wicket as Virender Sehwag got run out.Indians were at good stage once till they lost their 3rd wicket in the form of Gautam Gambhir.He made 60 off 124 balls.After his dismissal,no other batsmen could perform well except Sachin Tendulkar who struck his first half-century in nearly last 10 Tests.He got caught behind off the bowling of James Anderson.He made 76 runs which also included 13 fours.He was the sixth wicket to fall.

After his dismissal,Dhoni and Ashwin tried to hold on for rest of the day but Ashwin was clean bowled by Anderson in 89th over after England took the second new ball.At the end of the day's play,Dhoni and Zaheer Khan were at the crease 22 and 0 runs respectively.James Anderson was the hero of the day as he took 3 wickets

Brief Scores:-
India: 273/7 (90.0 overs)
S.Tendulkar: 76 (155)                             J.Anderson: 3/68 (21.0)
G.Gambhir: 60 (124)                              M.Panesar: 2/74 (35.0) 

Schedule Announced For India Pakistan Series

The schedule for highly anticipated upcoming series between India and Pakistan has been announced.The series will be played during the time when England team will go back to their home to celebrate Christmas and New Year.They will return to play the ODI series starting on January 11.


The schedule is given below:

Date          Fixture          Venue
Dec 25        1st T20          Bangalore
Dec 27        2nd T20        Ahmedabad
Dec 30        1st ODI         Chennai
Jan 3           2nd ODI        Kolkata
Jan 6           3rd ODI         Delhi

Pakistan Tour Cleared By Indian Home Ministry

The Indian Home Ministry has cleared the tour of Pakistan to India.The clearance was given during the meeting between ministry officials and BCCI representatives held at Delhi.The representatives included chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty,IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla and Chief Executive Sundar Raman.


Pakistan will arrive in India on December 22 for a series of 3 ODIs and 2 T20s.The venues for the fixtures are Chennai,Delhi,Kolkata,Ahmedabad and Bangalore.It will be the first bilateral series between the two teams since 2007.

Sun TV Buys Hyderabad IPL Franchise

The Sun TV has win the bid for Hyderabad IPL franchise for a 5 year term by bidding $15.9m per year.The decision was announced after the meeting of the IPL's governing council in Mumbai on Thursday.The bids were invited by them after the termination of Deccan Chargers due to their failure in meeting the deadline for raising its bank guarantee.

Th Sun TV won the bid by defeating PVP Ventures who offered $12.9m per year.This was their second time in bidding as they failed to win the bid last time also.

The Sun TV is a private Television and Entertainment company with around 32 channels spreading across different genres including movies,news,music etc.

We Are Still The Best Opening Batsmen In The World:Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir has said that the opening pair of him and Virender Sehwag is still the best opening pair in the world.Both the batsmen are under the knife of critics currently because of their poor performences in recent times.

"We still averages 53 as an opening pair,which I think as one of the best when it comes to opening the batting in world cricket.There are not many opening pairs who have played for such a long time and have an average of 53 per innings.And if 53 is not good enough,I don't know what is good enough",Gambhir told PTI.

He also added,"As an opening pair,you average 50 per inning and if you are giving 50 runs start in every innings,you can't do more and if people talks about contributing,I will suggest them to look at the stats."

The opening pair has failed to deliver in the recent series of India against Australia and England.At the tour of Australia,the pair's highest opening partnership was of just 26 runs.All the eyes will be on them,when they will open for the team against the England in upcoming home series.

Laxman Named The Captain Of Hyderabad For New Ranji Season

The former Indian batsman VVS Laxman has been named the captain of Hyderabad team for the upcoming Ranji Season.He will take over the control of the team from Dwaraka Ravi Teja who has been named the Vice-Capain of the team.

VVS Laxman took the retirement from International Cricket earlier this year,just before the start of India New Zealand Test Series.Apart from him,the off spinner Pragyan Ojha has also got selected for the team.

Hyderabad Squad:
VVS Laxman (C), Dwaraka Ravi Teja (V-C), Akshath Reddy, Hanuma Vihari, Arjun Yadav, Syed Ahmed Quadri, Bavanaka Sandeep, Ibrahim Khaleel, Pragyan Ojha, Ashish Reddy, Mohammed Khader, Anwar Ahmed, Pagadala Naidu, Abhinav Kumar, Vishal Sharma.

New Ranchi Stadium Gets Approval From ICC

The newly built stadium at Ranchi has got the approval from ICC for hosting International matches.It was inspected by the team headed by David Boon.They inspected the stadium and was satisfied by the facilites provided there.The stadium was also inspected by a 3-member team from England Cricket Board (ECB) and they also gave it the green signal.

"The ICC had given the green signal to hold the ODI four days ago. The last time Jharkhand had hosted an ODI was in 2006 against England (in Jamshedpur)," Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) president Amitabh Choudhary said. "And there is every possibility of Dhoni leading India on his home soil for the first time." 

The stadium is yet to host a match there.It will be hosting its first international match on January 19 which will bw the 3rd ODI of the upcoming series between India and England.The stadium is located at Ranchi which is the hometown of Indian Captain M.S.Dhoni.

Sachin Tendulkar To Recieve Order Of Australia Honour

The God Of Cricket and Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar will recieve the Order Of Australia honour from Australian Cabinet Minister Simon Crean during his visit to India.The announcement was made by the The Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard.

"I'm very pleased we're going to confer on Sachin Tendulkar membership of the Order of Australia, an AM," Gillard told reporters in Delhi. "This is a very special honour, very rarely awarded to someone who is not an Australian citizen or an Australian national.He is away playing cricket - surprise, surprise - but the award will be conferred on him by minister Crean when he visits India. So a very special honour and a very special recognition of such a great batsman." 

Sachin Tendulkar will be only fourth non-Australian Cricketer to get the honour after Brian Lara,Sir Gary Sobers and Clive Lloyd,all three are West Indian cricketers.Currentely,Sachin Tendulkar is in South Africa for the ongoing Champions League T20 Championship representing his IPL Team Mumbai Indians.

Bids Invited By BCCI For New IPL Team

The governing body of cricket in India i.e. BCCI has invited bids for the new IPL Team after the termination of Deccan Chargers from the IPL.The bids are invited for 12 cities Ahmedabad,Vizag,Dharamshala,Cuttak,Indore,Noida,Rajkot,Kanpur,Nagpur,Ranchi,Kochi & Hyderabad.The terminated IPL Team was based in Hyderabad.


The termination of Deccan Chargers was confirmed the Bombay High Court on Saturday.The BCCI decided to terminate it after it was discovered that the franchise owners i.e. Deccan Chargers Holding Ltd. (DHCL) were trying to sell it.The deadline for submitting the bids is till noon on October 25 .

Sachin Tendulkar To Reasses Himself Against England Series

Sachin Tendulkar has said that he will reasses his performance against England in the upcoming Test Series in November and then he will take the decision about his future.He said that he will have a look on his form and his mind of frame.

"I need not to take a call right now.When I will play in November, I will re-assess things.I am 39 and I don't think I have plenty of cricket left in me. But it depends on my frame of mind and my physical ability to deliver. When I feel that I am not delivering what is needed, and then I will re-look at the scheme of things. I am already 39 and no one expects me to go on playing forever,"Tendulkar said in an interview.

Currentely,he is undergoing criticism for his poor form by the sports critics and the experts.He got bowled in three innings against New Zealend in the last sereis played at home.He also said,"I am looking at it series by series. As long as I feel that I can deliver, I will continue playing. It also depends on what the team feels and whether I am motivated enough to continue being on top of the game."

Kohli Shines Once Again In India's Win Against Paksitan

India defeated Pakistan by 8 wickets with 3 overs still to remain in the must win Super Eight game for them.Virat Kohli was once again the man who scripted the win for India and with this win India continued their winning streak against Pakistan in any World Cup match.


Team India captain M.S.Dhoni went with 7 batsmen this time.He won the toss and elected to bowl first.Irfan Pathan gave the first blow to Pakistan by trapping Imran Nazir in front of wickets in just second over of the innings.After his departure,Pakistan sent Shahid Afridi at top of the order to boost the run rate but he couldn't accomplish the task.He did hit 2 fours but finally gave his wicket to Balaji as he looke to clear the boundery but got caught by Suresh Raina.After this Pakistan lost 3 more quick wickets and their score was 59/5 at one stage but both Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik played sensibely and added 47 runs for sixth wicket which was also the highest partnership for them in the match.This partnership was broken by R.Ashwin as he got rid of Shoaib Malik.After this none of the batsmen could do well and Pakistan was bowled out for 128 runs in 19.4 overs.

In reply,India too lost the wicket of Gautam Gambhir early as he gave a return catch to Raza Hasan on the second ball of the innings but Virat Kohli and Virender Sehwag took the charge of the chase from here onwards and added 75 runs for 2nd wicket.Meanwhile,Virat Kohli also completed his half-century.The partnership got broken when Virender Sehwag was caught out by Umar Gul on the bowling of Shahid Afridi as he looke to go for a six.After his departure,Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli took India to home with 18 balls still remaining.Virat Kohli made 78* off 61 balls and he was adjudged the Man of the Match .

Brief Scores:-
Pakistan: 128 (19.4 overs)
Shoaib Malik: 28 (29)                                       Laxmipathy Balaji: 3/22 (3.4)
Umar Akmal:21 (31)                                         Ravichandran Ashwin: 2/16 (4.0)

India: 129/2 (17.0 overs)
Virat Kohli: 78* (61)                                         Raza Hasan: 1/22 (4.0)
Virender Sehwag: 29 (38)                                  Shahid Afridi: 1/34 (4.0)

India To Face Pakistan In Super 8

Team India is going to face Pakistan in most anticipated match of Super Eight of ICC World T20 2012 here at Colombo.It is a must win game for India if they have to remain in this comeptition but it will not be an easy task for them after seeing the current form of Pakistani team which is still unbeaten in the tournament.

Team India is also facing problems over playing seven batsmen instead of five bowlers.It will be interesting to see what combination does Dhoni plays in the match.He was also criticised for his decision for not playing Virender Sehwag in the last match against Aussies which India lost badly.One major matter of conecern for Indian team is their batting as none of the batsmen have shown their form except Virat Kohli.

If we talk about Pakistani team then it looks much more confident than Indian team and if we see the way they defeated South Africa in the last match it clearly shows their level of confidence is very high.Their batsmen are in great touch especially Mohammed Hafeez,Umar Akmal and Nasir Jamshed while their opener Imran Nazir has also played some great knocks in the tournament.In bowling department they have Saeed Ajmal who is still the mystery bowler for all the bastsmen around the world.They have also defeated India the warm-up game earlier before the start of the tournamaent so they certainely have an edge over Indian team.

It will certainely be an exciting match with it's special moments but I personally think that Pakistan has more chances of winning it than India.

Super Eight Fixtures Of Indian Team

The league stage of ICC T20 Cricket World Cup is over and all the top 8 teams have qualified for Super Eight Round.In Super Eight stage,all the 8 teams have been classified into two groups of 4 teams each with top 2 teams from which group qualifying for semi-finals.

In the group of Team India the other three teams are Australia,Pakistan and South Africa.The schedule of Indian Team for Super Eight is given below:

  Date                 Fixture                Venue           Time (IST)
28 Sept        India vs Australia         Colombo        7:30PM
30 Sept        India vs Pakistan         Colombo        7:30PM
02 Oct         India vs South Africa   Colombo        7:30PM

Pakistan Beats India By 5 wkts

Pakistan defeated India by 5 wkts in the much awaited warm-up game of ICC World T20 2012 here at Colombo.It was the last warm-up game for both the teams before the start of real battle as the World Cup gets underway from tomorrow.

India won the toss and elected to bat first.Both the Indian openers added 41 runs for the first wicket but it was Virender Sehwag who hit most of the runs.Gautam Gambhir  made only 10 runs and he was clean bowled by Umar Gul.Soon after,Sehwag too followed him after he was caught by Afridi on the bowling of Saeed Ajmal.But after this,man in form for India Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma added 127 runs for third wicket.Both of them hit their half-centuries and helped India reach 150.Rohit fell just after completing his half-century as he was trapped lbw by Saeed Ajmal in the 19th over of the innings.Finally,India set a target of 186 runs off 20 overs for Pakistan to win the game.

Pakistan started their chase steadily with both openers playing cautiously but they lost quick wickets.First to go was Imran Nazir who made 13 runs.After him,Nasir Jamshed got run out without even facing a delievery.After this,Mohammed Hafeez and Kamran Akmal added 51 runs for third before Hafeez got out.Soon after his departure,Pakistan lost their middle-order batsmen quickely with Pakistan's score changing from 84/3 to 91/5 in 11.3 overs and it looked that they already lost the match but Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik had other plans in store for Indians.Both of them played very aggressively and added unbeaten 95 runs for sixth wicket and took Pakistan to win.Kamran Akmal sealed the win for Pakistan with a huge six off Irfan Pathan's bowling in 20th over.

Brief Scores:
India: 185/3 (20 overs)
V.Kohli: 75*(47)                                        S.Ajmal: 2/22 (4.0)
R.Sharma: 56 (40)                                      U.Gul: 1/31 (4.0)

Pakistan: 186/5 (19.1 overs)
K.Akmal: 92* (50)                                    R.Ashwin: 4/23 (4.0)
M.Hafeez: 38 (29)                                     Y.Singh: 0/11 (1.0)