The Rise of Steven Smith

From the Land where there had been several best batsmen were produced. Steve Smith is something special. Indeed, with the development of Starc and Lyon. Australia look really formidable as a team. The Rise of Steven Smith has been wonderful to watch, a bird on the field, he brings so much of intensity to the game while he guards the boundary. Australia's success story has always been a very good example, a player believed to be talented given ample amount of chances and SPD Smith is certainly one among them. Steven Smith a world No. 1, was not immediately apparent to people on the outside, but the Australian team management must have spotted something special, indeed very special.

Those were the the times when SPD Smith has just started to grow up with respect to the test match cricket. His average, just above 46 with the ball and a little higher than 29 with the bat. He started out at No. 8 and then moved to No. 6. When Ricky Ponting retired, he moved up to No. 5. His highest score was 92, by then. 

 

The Ashes 2013, England had already beaten Australia with lead of 3-0 having played 4 tests. The fifth test at the oval saw how good Smith could be. After the fall of Michael Clarke's wicket, England were in a celebration party. Steven Smith walks in, playing in his 12th Test match and generally regarded as an all rounder, bats a bit, bowls some leg Spin. This test match saw, the up coming Aussie star scoring a unbeaten century that had helped Aussie draw the game. A match to remember that, Watson (176) and Spd Smith (138*) both the scores came on the course of first innings, Aussie post a first inning score of 492/9 and declare.

Recent times, Smith has been so good and had already been a popular figure in the cricketing arena, a world cup winning champion and regarded as the next to-be the captain of the Australian Side. When Australia toured West Indies few days back, the series that saw Spd Smith Rising to the top position in the ICC test ratings. A score of 199 and 54* in both the innings, moving up the order at No.3 and he was a treat to watch. . His technique is still way out there, he played some quick, full-length, swinging deliveries from Jerome Taylor off the back foot with tremendous solidity and patience. Man of the Match in Australia's victory in the second Test in Kingston, making 199 in the first innings.

Spd Smith has jumped to the top of the ICC's Test batting rankings, the first Australian since Michael Clarke in 2012 to hold the No. 1 position.The Biggest Achievement and Test cricket's leading run scorer over the past year, with 1226 at an average 102.16.He has just beaten Sangakkara and Ab.De.

Not so far the best - Pakistan

Pakistan had not been the best in  recent past, losing both the ODI's and  tests against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and their bad run continues in their make shift home UAE. Australia's tour to the UAE has been a good start, they had won all the three ODI'S against Pakistan. This tour saw, Zulfiqar Babar, 35, making his debut. 

The Mighty Aussies looked comfortable. Pakistan looked belligerent with their pace attack, still they could have included Aizaz Cheema to their pace attack who had a good CLT-20 for Lahore Lions. Hafeez getting injured provided further setback for Pakistan, who missed the ODI's and the t-20. Having had a good CLT-20 Shoaib Mailk's inclusion needs to be overlooked, a solid middle order player who could provide resistance to Pakistan's batting line up that had been facing a collapse. Younis Khan's exclusion a vital decision by the selectors. With the World cup ahead, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan's experience might help winning games for Pakistan 

This tour so far for Pakistan, Umar Akmal and Sarfraz Ahmed were under the spotlights. Misbah had been struggling all through this year, never had a good run unlike 2013, being Pakistan's highest run getter. The captaincy remains a question mark for Pakistan, Mishbah or Shahid Afridi. Unlike India, opening had been a worry for Pakistan. Ahmed Shehzad need to score runs on a consistent basis for Pakistan with just a 50 in this odi series as an opener. While his partner Sarfraz Ahmed would remain the right choice as an opener. With the World cup ahead, Pakistan would hope to sort out all their issues and would try bringing back Saeed Ajmal.

The Aussies, started off this tour with a t-20 win. Warner looked in great touch coming back to the side, scoring a half century. Aussies never looked like they missed their usual captain Micheal Clarke. Steven Smith, who embarked as Australia's key test player, notched up his maiden ODI ton against Pakistan in the first ODI. Batting at No.3, he scored a breezy 101 taking Australia to 255 and visitors winning a game by good margin. A captaincy material and a successor to Michael Clarke in the future, Steven Smith. Sean Abott makes his debut as well with the wicket of Shahid Afridi on his debut game and more to come from him, hoping to see him play for Australia in lot more games to come. Bailey looks like a complete leader. But, when it comes to scoring runs, he remains on the back seat, his  poor form with the bat would always remain sceptical for the selectors. Maxwell, another big name played a gentle knock in the second ODI scoring 76. Maxwell this series, though had not scored much, remained Australia's wicket taking bowler along side Nathan Llyon and Mitchell Johnson. The third and the final odi was the talk of all social media websites, when Australia turned tables for one run win. A match to remember, when Maxwell bowled a double wicket maiden in the last over of the game, Pakistan need just 2 runs from 6 balls and they failed to score chasing 231.

first try for a video blog!

  

Always wanted to try a video blog on cricket and he is my genuine first try! sorry for the poor audio and video quality! :) This is all about the Northern Knights.

Been Long time!! When Facebook and Twitter ruined me!

From India's Eng tour to Champions League!

Looked like I had forgotten the art of writing posts here in my own blog! I had made this blog exclusively for cricket alone and I always dreamed of writing a post when ever a match or a series concludes. I had even planned to write a post on India's tour of England, I wanted to put every match on that tour together and write a huge post! England Tales! Yes, I had even decided on the topic to be written.

Nothing happened, yes, I mean it, nothing ever happened. All  I managed to write a small post from my facebook account and tweeted for 140 characters. If at all I had written a blog post on England's fabulous victory against India in the 5 test match series, I never wanted to write anything wrong about Dhoni's men. I knew this has been the transition phase for team India in tests. No sachin, No Dravid, No Laxman and No Kumble. In spite of all this, India managed to win at the Lords, Bhuvi was considered as the new hero and he had found a reputation in him and he was excellent all through the series. I never wanted to mention about India's loss in rest of the test matches. Virat Kohli would be just him and not Sachin Tendulkar and Pujara would be himself and it would be too harsh to compare him with Rahul Dravid, just a series they had failed to get runs. Gambhir made a come back and he was just back to the pavilion in quick time and he never came back strongly, a funny thought, no this was the fact. Dhoni needs some appreciation for bringing back Gautam gambhir in the top slot since he had no other options and Dhawan was failing. Murali Vijay Looked solid enough to face 300 balls and a run out changed his game for rest of the test series. Varun Aaron had pace and it was too late to bring him as a spear head, agreed Ishant's 7 wicket haul at the Lords made every one feel wow, and the next game he was out and injured. England's fear of facing the short ball was over and they sensed their win and India never made a come back. Dhoni finally did find the art of scoring runs in away test series, he was gutsy to face the swinging deliveries and yea Dhoni did face the new ball. Rahane the little wonder had taken a lot of lessons from Rahul Dravid and he was the only technically sounded batsmen. Inclusion of Stuart Binny wasn't justified.  Rohit Sharma did score couple of centuries against West Indies and that was a known tale, rewind South Africa series. Okay, Ashwin should have played majority of matches and he had a better technique than most of the current test batsmen in India. Okay, Stopping here! we're done! :)


ODI's brought back the smiles on the Indian faces. No, Rephrasing. Raina brought back the smiles on Indian faces and he was all pumped up. He came, he scored runs, took catches, wickets everything possible and won man of the series and Virat Kohli was still struggling to get on the double figures and Anderson managed to pick his bunny as many times as he can. Zak-Smith and Anderson-Kohli. India looked a better side and Cook never looked to win the ODI series despite scoring well in later part of the test series and his captaincy raised eye brows for the World Cup 2015. Rohit Sharma has broken his hand and Murali Vijay had to replace and he never played the 50 over game here. Rahane's 100 and Dhawan's unbeaten 97 were unforgettable, they had teared apart the England bowling attack. Dhoni's consistency at the ODI's a known thing and not forgetting, India even lost the ODI's in 2011 at England.

The T-20, a much different side for England, new leader. Almost the same side for India. Morgan had literally set up the game for England and a come back for England in the shorter format. Virat looked in touch, Scored a half century and that never helped India winning this game.

What else? Most of the Players are off to the Champions League and MI, the defending champions are out of the league. Northern Knights looks impressive, Kane Williamson the player to watch out for along with Trent Boult. The pink colored Knights never mind missing the big hitting Corey Anderson, he opted playing for Mi and  Mi never had an idea to play him! just found a seat at the dug out!

So as Barbados, the winners of the Caribbean Premier League under Pollard's captaincy and Pollard never looked playing for his home team despite the team had qualified for the main draw!

Southern Express looked promising and failed to win a single game and Lahore Lions had got the visa to play in the main draw! well done Hafeez, the professor.

KKR-CSK, the opener, Dhoni's 101m six set up the score for CSK. KKR never looked chasing. Nehra was on a hattrick! Oh yes, I was alive when this happened. Andy Russel stepped in and he changed the course of the game. He had been so successful coming down the order for Jamaica in the CPL and had to repeat the same for KKR. He came, he hit and got out and KKR still had the super cool Tendo at the other end. A player of such caliber, Tendo needs to be playing for Netherlands. He deserves one. A win from No where to KKR when Piyush Chawla scored the winning runs.

Bailey's team against Bailey! Looks interesting, yes the Hobart Hurricanes led by Bailey in Big bash league was up against the most successful IPL team, the Kings 11 and Bailey Preferred Kings 11 over Hobart. Not a very good start for Sehwag, a first ball duck, Maxwell's cameo, Thisara Perera's first outing for Kings 11 saw the IPL runner's up winning the game under the much needed guidance of Bailey.

Ok! done done done!! Blog has been Updated. Yay!! Happy Blogging me, happy blogging all!! :) Bye!

It's Renovation time! for my Blog and Team India!

Been long time, Yea, and lot of cricket been played! and lots being spoken

India losing at SA, India losing at NZ, ex cricketers and experts take on Dhoni's defensive strategy on test cricket! Duncan Fletcher's silence! Virat Kohli's career best ODI and Test Ratings and Much more on Indian cricket! 


It's time for Renovation, Dhoni is still building a proper test team!

McCullum's record test score of 300, beating Martin Crowe's 299! History at Wellington!

U-19 world cup's, Lime Light on! Vijay Zol! Kuldeep, the leggie who had been brilliant and a hat-trick in a world cup match and Much spoken talent from the IPL, Sanju Samson! Deepak Hooda and Much more talents!

Ranji Winners, Irani Cup winners Karnataka 2014. Well done Vinay and Co!

Aussie Tour of South Africa, Mitchell Johnson's furious 12 for! he has taken at least 49 apporx wickets since his come back in 6 test matches he had played! The real pace machine! First test Aussie win in style!

SL tour to bangladesh! Sanga's triple century, last ball finishes to the T-20 between them! SL take test and T-20 series wins!

IPL's huge money on Cricketers! Yuvi, Corey, Neesham, McCullum for CSK! Yuvi for RCB, KKR's new bowling Line up! Delhi's new Army, MVJ goes to delhi and much more happened at the IPL auctions this time. MI leaving out Mitch! not a good option for them! Punjab's exiting new line up of players and SRH looks awesome with Aussie opening pair, Finch and Warner! Karan Saharma for 3.7 Crores! woo! Huge!

 Dhoni Out of Asia Cup due to an Injury! Kohli to lead!

  DK would be the replacement! Will be the new young team! Lead by Kohli! looking forward! Hopefully Dhoni should be fit for the t-20 world cup!










Timeless cricket had missed so so much of cricket! TC will be back soon!

 Till then! ... Renovation time for TC!! TimeLess Cricket!

India Lose Series Opener!

Before the start of Kiwi series. New Zealand, a confident side, They had won the test series and the T-20 against West Indies and had levelled the odi series against them. India had lost the ODI series and test series against the South Africans. Corey Anderson had scored the fastest odi century, Luke Ronchi, Ryder and Ross Tayler were in great form.

For India, The openers were not doing what was expected from them and they were struggling for runs. Dhawan/Rohit Sharma were not good as they  use to bat on Indian pitches. Much was depend on Virat Kohli and the Captain Msd to take the Indian innings forward.

The same scenario happened yesterday, India has a good batting side, every one says. Yes, we do, But how well we have been doing outside India recently? Having won the toss and decided to field at Napier, Bhuvi bowled so well, 10 overs 38/1.

Shami was moving the ball and picked up 4/55. Death bowling once again proved a problem for India. Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi teared apart the Indian bowling in the end overs. Ashwin went wicketless and Jadeja managed to pick one at an economy over 6 runs. Ishant Sharma gave away 72 runs for the 9 overs he bowled.

Virat Kohli had scored 18 centuries over all and 12 had come during the chase and India won 11 out of 12 times when ever he scored a century during the chase. His 18th odi hundred was out from India's winning ways. India had lost the match despite Virat's majestic 123 of 111 balls. Virat and Dhoni looked set, and India was cursing towards the victory, a short ball from McClenaghan to Dhoni and the keeper had to dive to make his ground and catch taken, Dhoni out for 40. Kiwis needed exactly the wicket of either MSD or Virat Kohli and soon McClenaghan dismissed kohli, full toss outside off, straight forward catch to Ryder. Ryder had earlier dropped Kohli on 94. Back to back wickets for McClenaghan and NZ were right back into the game.

Earlier, Rohit Sharma had played 23 balls for the 3 runs he scored and Dhawan looked set before he was dismissed for 32. Raina pulled one and caught at deep fine leg. Rahane, played so well in South Africa out for 7. The middle order is depend on Dhoni and the top order would depend on Kohli. Even if they are getting runs, India needs one or two batsmen to fire. Rahanae is certainly the guy India would look for and Raina had been given lot of chances and seen as the future no.4 for the 2015 world cup.

Can England Make a Comeback? 2-0 now.

Mitchell Johnson has led Australia to another test win. A win at Adelaide today gave Australia a 2-0 lead in the ashes. Having scored a massive 570 in the first innings, a century from pup and Haddin. Australia looked strong and they looked confident.

England had to play without Trott and  the talented Joe Rott had to play at No.3. Stokes and Panesar were in the playing 11. Most of them were expecting the all rounder Bresnan to join, but the captain and the coach had some other plan. England played with two spinners and the combination was not a successful one. In the first Innings, almost every bowler picked up wickets for England and Broad came out with 3/98.

Captain cook's form has been troubling England a lot, he has not been scoring runs at the top for England this ashes season. Johnson cleaned him up early, getting the first breakthrough for Australia. Carberry scored a patient 60. Joe Root, Pietersen all went out cheaply. Ian Bell and Carberry had a 45 run partnership between them, the second highest for England. The highest being 48 between Carberry and Joe Root. This indicates how well The English batsmen had tackled the Australian bowling and they lacked major Partnerships. Ian Bell was rock solid and remained unbeaten on 72 and he was the only batsman next to Carberry to provide some resistance when Johnson was firing the ball at 150kmph almost every time. The pacer came back strongly to pick up 7 wickets totally in the first Innings. Broad and Anderson were bowled the first ball they faced. Stokes was caught at crease, Monty who showed some resistance along with Bell, faced 35 balls for his two runs before he was cleaned up by Johnson. Johnson picked 7/40 and England all out 172.

Surprise. Clarke refused a follow on, may be, he wanted a rest for his fast bowlers or he wanted his batsmen to score more runs and take the lead over 500. Anderson was on fire, he picked up two quick Aussie wickets. Rogers gone caught behind for 2 and Watson for a duck and his form needs to be noticed. Watson has not been in best of his form. The home team two down for 4 runs. Thanks to the over night score of 83 from Warner, Australia took the lead over 500, 132/3 and England needed 531, when Aussies declared from their over night score of 132.

 Huge target for England. All they needed was a good start, No they did not get a start. Cook gone,  prey to Johnson again scoring just a run. Carberry followed for 14, Root and Pietersen (53) looked solid and kept going, But Aussies Just needed that one wicket of either KP or Root. Siddle got that wicket of KP, bowled. Smith, the part timer picked up Bell for 6 runs and a even a draw looked difficult for England. Root played well for 87, that should have been a 100 he was a bit unlucky to get an inside edge and a fine catch by the keeper. Stokes gone for 28, Prior looked good and at last he found some form and never carried that and was out for 69.Siddle and Harris shared 7 among them and england could score only 312.

Siddle 4/57 and Harris 3/54, one each from Johnson, Smith and Lyon. Player of the match, Johnson for his 8 wickets.


From the past " Australia, after seven defeats in nine, have now won two Tests on a row; England, unbeaten in 13 before this series, have been heavily beaten in both "

First win in ten Tests - Welcome Back Australia!

It's has been long time, Australia won a test! But, they have won it huge this time at the Gabba. Australia never lost a match at the Gabba since 1988. After series loss against India and at England, Australia came back harder and worked hard to start off the Ashes with a huge win over England at Gabba.

Mitchell Johnson was the hero. The comeback star was seen as the fast and the furious and he took almost 9 wickets for 103 runs and with the bat, 64 in the first innings and 39* in the second innings.

No one would have thought Australia could beat England by 381 runs. After scoring a modest first innings total of 295. (Brad Haddin top scoring with 94 and Johnson 64 )

When Stuart Broad came in to bowl, almost Every Australian crowd remembered what had happened last summer during the Ashes and among all those Boo's and placards on Broad, the English pacer picked up a 5 wicket haul and went on to pick 6/81.

Cook,did not have a good start to the season. Carberry who looked in good touch missed scoring a 50 at Gabba. Kevin Pietersen playing his 100th test did not provide the usual impact which could have ended in a memorable historic 100th test for Pietersen. The first four of the England's wicket were shared by Johnson and Harris. Johnson was at his very best, he had the pace and the bounce, England batsmen did find difficult to pick the short ball he bowled in particular. Nathan Lyon, the surprise package picked up couple of wickets to his name.

Pay Back time Aussies!

They had a lot, a lot. The crowd was amazing at Gabba! One of those interesting Placard on the display.

It was a full packed stadium at Gabba, despite rain interrupting the play, the Gabba crowd was amazing.




Aussie Batsman had more to offer during the second innings, A century from Clarke, and David Warner. England were in a worry, the lead was building up. Pup was dismissed after he scored a flawless 113 and warner for an entertaining 124. Bailey, Haddin and Johnson, down the order came good for Australia and the home team declared 401/7, with a huge lead over 500 runs and England needed 561 to win.


Not a good start for England during the chase. Two quick wickets, Carberry and Trott back to the pavilion and Cook had to play a solid innings, KP did not last long. Bell scoring 32 lost his wicket. Cook looking set, lost his wicket to lyon, having edged one to Haddin. Then it was just a pack of cards. In a span of Time, Johnson's 5 wicket haul and England all out for 179. It was all over at the Gabba! Australia came back stronger from the loss and the margin was huge. Australia won by 381 runs. Johnson, man of the match!

Next test, hopefully, Watson should be in form. He had made the no.3 spot his own, Bailey had an impressive debut, SPD Smith had lost his touch a little bit! if these batsman are coming good next test match. Problems for England.

Go Aussie!!

Another huge target chased! - India!!

After 4th odi ended in No result at Ranchi and the 5th odi was abandoned due to wet outfield at Cuttack. India came back strongly to the win the 6th odi and level the series 2-2 at Nagpur
Being played at Nagpur the 6th odi, the conditions were hot and dry and the the pitch looked good for Batting, India had won the toss and decided to chase. India brought in Bhuvi and Amit Mishra in place of Vinay and Unadkat. Australian openers Hughes and Finch did not provide the start as they usually do, both were back to pavilion in quick time. Bailey and Watson were looking good, Watson had luck going his way when he was caught of a no ball being bowled by Jadeja, Watson had just scored 25 that time. Watson, then went severe on every Indian bowler and reached his half century. Bailey was solid as usual getting runs easily at the other end. The pitch was looking good and Australian batsmen were looking for a score over 300 again. Watson and Bailey added 168 in 23.3 overs and Indian bowlers had no clue what so ever. Mean while Watson scored his 9th odi century and soon lost his wicket to Mohammed Shami,a much needed breakthrough for India. Maxwell's stay at the crease this time did not last long and was caught at deep by Bhuvi and Ashwin was lucky to get the wicket of Maxwell. Voges and Bailey took the attack further and added 120 in 13.2 overs and Bailey who missed every opportunity of scoring a century this series, finally scored a much deserved century and went on to score a massive 156,a record score by an Australian Captain. Bailey's wonderful innings came to an end in the pursuit of quick runs as he smashed one from Jadeja to long off a simple catch to Kohli, that was an awesome performance from the Australia captain. Jadeja again went on to pick Mitchell Johnson and that happened to be his 100th Odi Wicket and in the end Australia had scored again a massive first Inning total of 350 for the loss of 6 wickets. As far as the Indian bowling was concerned, Bhuvi turned out to be economical,he picked a wicket in his 8 overs giving away 42 runs and Jadeja picked 2 for 68 in his 10 and Ashwin picked 2/64 in his 10 and a wicket for Mohammed Shami.

This target looked challenging, but the Indian batsmen had already chased down 360 at Jaipur and they had to repeat the same stuff here at Nagpur. The Indian openers Dhawan and Rohit sharma had a solid start and they put on 178 for the first wicket in 29.3 overs. Once again the Australian pace bowlers were tested and the Indian openers were quick on their feet and made sure they gave India a sound start. None of the specialist bowler were able to pick the first wicket, it was when Bailey decided to throw the ball to a part time bowler Finch. Finch gave Australia a much needed breakthrough and Rohit sharma was first wicket to fell, for a well made 79 of 89 balls. There was cheer, Virat came in and he did not waste much time and he continued where he left from Jaipur, Dhawan was looking set for his 4th odi century and he did not miss this time and went on to score a match winning century and he was soon dismissed after scoring a century, India were two down for 234 when Raina joined Virat Kohli and Raina was once again troubled by a short ball from Johnson and was out for 16, soon Johnson picked yuvraj for a duck and India had lost 3 wickets in quick span of time. In the other end Virat was going well scoring runs and he had not slowed down. India had lost 4 wickets for 290 and had a long way to go. MSD joined virat, the duo made sure they did lose any more wicket and carried on, soon Virat brought his 17th odi century and 11th while chasing, and a champion player like him is what India needed during the crisis situation. Kohli delivered what India exactly needed, a pressure situation and he was leading from the front, 11 centuries he has scored while chasing and India had won all of them. Needing 20 of the last two overs, Kohli took on watson and scored 14 runs of that over and India needed 6 from the last over from Faulkner. Dhoni was on strike and as a finisher you all know what Dhoni can do and Dhoni scored the winning runs for India and remained unbeaten on 25 and India had won yet another match chasing over 350. What a match to remember, What a chase.

Virat Kohli was again magical this time and won the man of the match for his 66 ball 115 and rest of the contributions were Dhawan's 100 and Rohit's 79.

A monemt of joy! the next match will be at Bengaluru on Nov-2nd! do not miss the action.
Ok folks! It's Diwali time! I wish you all a very Happy Diwali and hope you enjoy the festival and yea, Be safe!
                                       - Harish.S

what a match! what a chase! what a win! - India!!

The second ODI between India and Australia played at : Sawai Mansingh Stadium Jaipur, saw Australia winning the toss again and electing to bat. Aussie Openers Hughes and Finch once again provided the start they required. The track looked like a good one to bat and the openers started scoring runs in quick time, the first wicket fell when Aussies had scored 74.  Brilliant fielding from Raina and a direct hit. Finch back to the pavilion. Watson who missed out in the first game was in sublime form this game, he and hughes added 108. Watson scored a quick fire 59 before he was dismissed caught over long on by Ishant. The Aussie Captain George Bailey had come to the crease and he was in a hurry to score runs and he was hitting every ball he faced, at the other end Hughes was calm and composed, this duo added just 30 runs before Hughes was dismissed for a well played 83. Maxwell known for his big hitting joined his captain and both were taking on the Indian Attack and Dhoni had no clue on stopping them, the runs flowed so easily for the batsmen and the Indian bowlers found hard to get their line and length. The hard hitting pair added 96 in just 8.3 overs before Maxwell was run out for 53 of just 32 balls. Captain Bailey scored a massive 92 of 50 balls and remained unbeaten. The Aussies had scored a huge first Innings total of 359 for the loss of 5 wickets in 50 overs.The bowling, Vinay Picked couple of wickets for 73 from his 9 overs and Ashwin picked one for 50 from his 8 overs.

Now, Indian batsman again had to chase a score over 300 and this time its going to be a huge task than the last game. The openers Rohit Sharma and Dhawan did not fail this time, the duo put on a opening partnership of 176 runs, This was the kind of start the Indians were looking, those runs came in quick time,26.1 overs. Shikhar Dhawan who missed out in his first game, was dropped while he was on 18 by Haddin and he did utilize that opportunity and went on to score 95 in 86 balls and the delhi batsman was dismissed without scoring a century, yet that innings made a huge impact on the scorecard. Rohit sharma was calm until dhawan was scoring, once dhawan was back to the pavilion, he took up the attack along with Virat Kohli. The Mumbai Batsman had scored a century during 2010. Rohit Sharma was in sublime touch, he was pulling and driving the ball so well and at the other end Kohli was on fire, he was hitting six’s and four’s now and then and both the batsmen made bowling difficult for the Aussie Bowlers. The run rate had come down to 4 runs an over and the last ten overs Indians needed only 40 runs. The way Rohit and Virat played was just more than awesome, in the mean time Rohit brought up his 3rd odi ton in style, this century certainly took a long time to come, and at the other end Virat was clinching towards his 16th odi ton and the fastest as well, Virat scored a 52 ball 100 and the fastest by an Indian, earlier Sehwag had this record, scoring a century in 60 balls against New Zealand. The target looked comfortable in the end for India, and India had successfully chased down a huge target and scored 362 in 43.3 overs with a loss of Just one wicket.
Rohit Sharma was adjudged Man of the Match for his 123 ball 141*(17 four’s and four six’s) The other contributions came from Virat Kohli, 100* of 52 balls(8 four’s and 7 six’s) and Shikhar Dhawan’s 95 of 86 balls(14 four’s)
What a win! What a chase! and the series is leveled 1-1,hope you all enjoyed the game! as I too loved watching. See you soon with an update after the Mohali encounter.

Yuvi Yuvi Yuvi!! - The men in blue are back!

India's last series was against Zimbabwe, and that series saw a lot of new faces getting their breakthrough.
Australia's tour of India, first match commenced yesterday with a t-20. Played at Rajkot, India had won the toss and decided to field in a flat pitch that was good for batting.
Australian openers started off well and they did not allow any Indian bowlers to settle. The openers Finch and Nic Maddinson(debut) made sure they gave their team the start. Australia utilized the powerplay and added 56 in 4.5 overs before Bhuvi rattled Maddinson who scored 34 in 16 balls he faced and India had their First breakthrough. Finch was just unstoppable and he continued his hard hitting, Ashwin went for 41 in his two overs. Watson was given Leg before and Vinay was spot on with his bowling and Aussies found hard to play his bowling and Jadeja too was quite consistent with the line and length. The Aussie Captain George Bailey was dismissed for a duck and it was Vinay again taking that wicket.Maxwell scored a quick fire 13 ball 27 and was out when Ishant took a good catch. Though Aussies kept losing wickets, they were well ahead of 10 runs per over and 200 was looking so easy. Finch scored a massive 89 of 52 balls before being dismissed by Vinay, a great return catch to send the Aussie opener back to the pavilion. In the twenty overs, Australia scored 201 for the loss of 7 wickets. It was Vinay Kumar, the stand out performer for India, he picked up 3 wickets for 26 in his 4 overs and Bhuvi Picked 3 for 35 in his 4 and Jadeja a wicket for 23 in his 4 overs.
 Indians had to chase a huge score, The openers Dhawan and Rohit sharma were not able to provide the start as Aussies did, Rohit was out for just 8 runs, Dhawan and Raina started to score runs quickly and added 38 in 3.4 overs before Raina lost his wicket for 19. Kohli Joined Dhawan , the left/right combo added 30 in 3 overs and Dhawan headed to pavilion, being stumped. There were still hopes, this man came in Yuvraj Singh. Every one remembers his 30 ball 70 against Australia in the t-20 semi finals 2007. The team exactly needed that Kind of knock to chase down this target and he did played the same way,Kohli lost his wicket for 29 when he tried to charge Mackay down the track and caught over long on. India's most devastating pair MS Dhoni and Yuvraj on the middle. They just played the way as if there was no pressure and India were going on 9 runs per over and they needed 10, Yuvraj was in sublime form on his come back game, he was timing the ball so well and he hit 5 huge six's and 8 fours and that was a match winning knock, he scored a brutal 77 of 35 balls, that was more challenging than Finch's 52 ball 89. MSD remained calm at the other end and he was the finisher as usual, scoring 24 of 21. The duo added 102 in 8.3 overs and saw India winning with 2 balls to spare.
Yuvraj Singh was adjudged man of the match!
It's time to cheer folks! 7 ODI matches remaining! Lets win it! Bleed Blue!

Hi!! I am bored!

Been loooooooong time I came here updating my blog after India played against Zim!

well, This is just gonna be a formal , no.. a scribbling may be! Have been watching films hearing a lot of music, and less of cricket!

Got really bored on seeing Australia losing to England 3-0 in the ashes. Yes, hope they come back!

Finch's 156 was lovely to watch, and what else?!

Pakistan winning against Zimbabwe and Younis Khan's 200 in the second Innings!

Dollar value going up! and petrol prices going up! but there are people like me, who put petrol for Just 100 rs. Earlier 1.39 lts for rs.100 and now approx 1.29 lts for rs.100!

Onion prices. Thank you! what else?! Gold prices! hats off to congress and the Indian economic system and Our Finance Minister says, we are having a tough time. Ok!

The new RBI governor. Welcome sir!

Gang rapes and the judgement!! 

UP riots! what else do we need to face?!

Syria! really Pity that country! chemical chemical! really dangerous! not again plz!

Kimi losing in Italian GP! I heard fans of him telling keep calm and let kimi do what he wants to do! Ok.

see you soon with the next post! Bbbyee!  - with Laav, Harish.S! oYE! How ever you call me! :)

India in Zimbabwe. A recap!

This was the series to test the bench strength and Virat was again given an opportunity to lead the team against Zimbabwe and this was the young Indian squad with lot of new faces. Pujara Made his debut, Mohit was given a chance, Unadkat proved his skill as a bowler. Ambati Rayudu scored some runs, Rahane scored a half century and he has been in the bench for a long time. Amit Mishra was excellent with the ball picking up 18 wickets and equaling the world record with Srinath did against New Zealand. Lot of things happened this series.
Match 1 : India won the toss and chose to field. Sikandar Raza (82) and Chigumbura (43) were the highest scorers for Zimbabwe and they made a modest total of 228. Mishra bowled well and picked up 3 for 43 in his ten overs
India had to chase with ease. The openers fell for low score and Captain Virat had to lead from the front, Virat scored an excellent century (115) and he along with Rayudu (63) made sure India secured a lead in the 5 match ODI Series . India chased down the total in 44.5 overs. Virat was the man of the match.
Match 2 : Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to field. Rohit sharma's poor form continued and he had to lose his wicket for just 1 run. Virat too did not last long and was back to the pavilion. Time for Dhawan to perform and he did so. The left hander scored a brilliant century after bring dropped behind and one at deep. He did not waste his chance and went on to score 116, Dinesh Karthik was another stand out performer this game scoring 69. Both the batsman made sure India was out of trouble and Vinay Kumar made a quick fire 27 from 12 balls and India put on a massive score of 294 in their 50 overs
Zimbabwe had to chase a huge target after winning the toss. Sibanda (55) was the only highest scorer for them followed by Chigumbura's (46) and Utseya's 52 and in 50 overs Zimbabwe scored 236/9. Unadkat picked 4/41 and Dhawan was the man of the match. India lead series 2-0.
Match 3 : India won the toss and chose to field. Indian bowlers were spot on. Zimbabwe batsmen struggled to get runs except for Sean Williams (45) and were all out for 183 in 46 overs. Amit Mishra 4/47 in his 10
Indian's had nothing much to chase,Rohit sharma failing again and useful 35 from Dhawan, Virat remained unbeaten on 68 to chase down the target in just 35.3 overs, Mishra was man of the match. India won the series 3-0
Match 4 : Having won the series. India won the toss and chose to field. Once again this was a kind of repeat, the bowlers were spot on and made sure Zimbabwe kept losing wickets. Chigumbura's half century made them to score 144 in 42.4 overs. This time Mishra picked 3/25 and Mohit sharma picked 2/26.
Pujara on his debut scored 13 and lost his wicket. Rohit and Raina put on a 100+ run partnership and chased down the target with ease, Both scored half centuries and got back their form. 145/1 in 30.5 overs. Mohit Sharma got Man of the match on his debut. India 4-0.
Match 5: Again, India won the toss and chose to field. As expected, Mishra and his googly fetched him six wickets for 48, with just a half century on the scorecard by Sean Williams (51) Zimbabwe all out for 163.
Pujara again failed to capitalize the opportunity and lost his wicket, 41 from Dhawan, 50 from Rahane and 48* from Jadeja won the match for India in 34 overs. Man of the match Amit Mishra for his 6 wicket haul.Series White Washed
India did show their class, This series was completely dominated by India, testing the bench strength and Virat's potential as a future leader.

Seven for Twelve!! - Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi has been the latest sensation after yesterday's brilliant performance with the ball and the bat. Pakistan were really struggling at their first odi against West Indies, West Indies being the home side, won the toss and decided to bowl first. Jason Holder was furious with his bowling who destroyed the Pakistan top order and picked up 4/13 in his ten overs and his career best as well!

Misbah To the rescue again :

This has been a frequent show in Pakistan side, with the side losing wickets and their captain Misbah has come to the rescue every time and this time he was really patient and the strike rate was almost less than 50 and he was supporting afridi who was on a rampage. Afridi scored a quick fire 50 and took his team to a decent total and before getting out, Afridi made a valuable 76 of 55 delivers, that knock included 5 6's and 6 4's with a strike rate of 138. Pakistan had scored a modest total of 224, Misbah with another half century of 121 balls.

With the likes of Gayle,Pollard and Bravo etc, the target looked quite simpler to the home side and they looked comfortable they way they had bowled . But things got changed, Gayle was run out and Irfan struck in his first over, Charles was back and top order was back to the pavilion.

Return of Shahid Afridi :

Afridi was quite a sensation yesterday, he picked almost every west Indian wicket and he had bowled one of the odi's best bowling figure. 9 overs, 3 maidens and 7 wickets, this kind of performance does not happen now and then, and when that happens that becomes the best of all. West Indies had lost all their wickets for 98 runs and no one ever imagined this low score from the home side, who had bowled so well. The magician Shaid afridi has done once again for Pakistan and he has announced his return in style!

India The Winners!! Yet Again.

India has been the best team again, beating Sri Lanka in the tri nation finals, they continue their good from after winning the Champions trophy in England.

MS Dhoni joined the team after he missed out some games due to Injury, mean time Virat Kohli had to lead the team and he did pretty well to take the team to the finals of the tri nation. Virat too scored the first century as a captain against the west Indies in a must win game, Rohit Sharma, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar( 4/8, against Sri Lanka) etc were the other crucial architects taking India to the finals knocking out West Indies.

Dhoni won the toss and decided to bowl at :
Queen’s Park Oval. That was a very good toss to win and Bhuvi showed his swinging qualities again, he removed the openers for a low score. Sangakkara and Thirimanne had to steady the ship and they did so, the pair put on a 100+ run partnership and that was the time when Sri Lanka thought they started getting runs, Ishant Sharma got the wicket of Thirimanne and soon Ashwin chipped in with the wicket of Sangakkara and India were right back into the game. Once the pair was back to the pavilion, Sri Lanka did not find a chance to return, Indian bowlers picked wickets at regular Intervals and the pressure was on Sri Lanka every time. Jadeja picked 4/23, Ashwin, Ishant and Bhuvi took 2 each and Sri Lanka were bundled for 201 in 48.5 overs

When Indian openers came into bat, the target looked much easy, but the opening partnership did not last for long and Shikhar Dhawan was back to the pavilion for 16 and soon followed by Virat for 2. India lost both the wickets in quick succession and That was the time when DK and Rohit put on a 50 run partnership and things looked easy. DK lost his wicket for 23, Mahela took a beauty at slip, Herath announced his arrival. In the mean time Rohit brought up his half century and that was a patient innings and he did not carry on and lost his wicket for 58, herath with his second wicket and Raina batted well for his quick fire 32 and a 62 run partnership with Rohit Sharma, both the batsmen out in quick succession and Pressure on India, the arrival of Dhoni showed his calmness at the crease, but the wickets kept falling at the other end and Herath picked up 4 wickets totally for 20 runs and India had lost 9 wickets for 182 and Ishant Sharma accompanied Dhoni till the end, the Indian captain ensured he scored 15 runs of the final over of Eranga’s bowling, the Indian captain remained unbeaten on 45.

The winning shot was a flat six and Indians won the game with two balls to spare, Once again India had bet Sri Lanka in the final and the winning shot being a 6 from the same person as happened in the world cup finals.

Dhoni declared man of the match and Bhuneshwar Kumar declared Man of the series.

We are the Champions yet again! Keep cheering!