Kurdha's Sandstorm: A poem

Khurda’s Sandstorm

A poem on Pragyan Ojha by Pallavi

Battle of the Champs: India vs Oz

Yeah ,the much awaited Clash of the Titans will get underway as Australia Face India in a Two match test series with the Latter playing Host. India-Australia (Or Border- Gavaskar Series, whatever you call it) Test series have been fiercely contested in the recent past and Considering the quality of the players involved, It won’t be a surprise if this series turns to be a close one.

India gets in the new Jersey

The Indian team today officially unveiled the New Jersey of the team which will be worn from Indo- Aus ODI series. India under Dhoni were lucky enough to win the T20 World Cup in the light blue jersey of 2007.

Journey to the peak- India

The historic day – 6th December 2009, is a day I shall always cherish, not only me but every Indian in whose soul lies nothing but unadulterated cricket. My love… my pride… my favourite team, – “MY INDIA” reached the pinnacle of glory of being the number one test team for the very first time in the history of international cricket.

Long list of nominees of ICC Cricket awards

Here is the list of Nominees posted by the ICC. The ICC Cricket Awards will take place in October in Bangalore.

Long-lists of nominees (in alphabetical order; each category will be reduced to a short-list in due course)

Sachin rested, Yuvraj back for Tri Series

The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the Indian Squad for the upcoming tri series. Yuvraj Singh has been called back while the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh have been rested.

The Committee headed by Kris Srikkanth, selected the One Day team for the Tri Series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Lanka from 10th August.

Team India in Colours- a poem

TEAM INDIA IN COLOURS

Here come the talented men in blue,

In appreciation my whistle blew,

Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers

GILLY BOMB FAILS BUT  ROHIT TAKES DC TO 148

It was not the best starts for the Defending Champs. The team expected Adam Gilchrist to score and give them a brisk start. Gilly trying to hit it on the on side miscued it and it went high and only fell in the hands of Yusuf Pathan. The weakened side- Rajasthan Royals went on high spirits with the wicket of the danger man.

It was about to turn worse for the Royals as Gibbs thrashed one Royal Bowler. But, RR did not let it happen as they picked up yet another with but not Gibbs it was Laxman.  Shane Warne bowled himself in the 7th over. It looked like he was back in form as he picked up the wicket of Gibbs in his 4th ball.

Just after another over, Symonds who was looking dangerous fell short of the crease when Jhunjhunwala threw as if he had a bullet arm. Venugopal Rao and T Suman didn’t have much experience so they too departed without troubling the scores. It looked like a one man stand with Rohit Sharma just short by one run of his fifty. Rahul Sharma’s last over blitzkreig took the team to148.

YUSUF PATHAN MAKES IT A CAKE WALK FOR RR

From the start of the tournament itself, RR looked a batting weak and heavily relied on Yusuf Pathan. Micheal Lumb gave the best start he could give for the Royals partnered by Naman Ojha. The Powerplay yielded 54 runs with 40 runs scored by Micheal Lumb.

All Naman had to do was to give the strike to Lumb. He was striking the ball with ease. Just after the powerplay Naman Ojha too tried to take the attack but was stumped.

At 55/1 and about 9 runs a over, it was a perfect stage set for Yusuf Pathan to take the attack. He did so in the process he gave an easy win for the Royals. The Chargers were charging up to attack Pathan, Symonds was sledging and a slip with a attacking field set for him. He hit it for a six out of his first ball.

Lumb and Pathan had a 46 run partnership. Pathan hit 8 balls out of the rope in great fashion along with his 2 fours. But, at last he won it as usual for the Rajasthan Royals and their owner Shilpa Shetty was waving the flag and shouting HALLA BOL.

Squads:

Rajasthan Royals:
Naman Ojha, Micheal Lumb, Faiz Fazal, Adam Voges, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Paras Dogra, Shane Warne, Sumit Narwal, Siddharth Trivedi, Shaun Tait.

Deccan Chargers
Adam Gilchrist, VVS Laxman, Herchelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, T Suman, Venugopal Rao, Chaminda Vaas, RP Singh, Rahul Sharma, Pragyan Ojha

EDITED BY ADITHYA R

Maxertainment 3: DC back in winning form

Dhoni and co has a powerful and explosive players in his hut. Gilly retains the same team as in the first match.

Deccan Chargers wins the toss and choose to bat first…

GILLY ON A SONG

It was one day when everyone looks excited. Thats when Gilly is on a song. Don’t forget his superb IPL 1 in which he his a superb century. It was almost the same. This time his hit list was poor lad Sudeep Tyagi and Albie Morkel. He cruised with fours and sixes. When I tell this I remember the splendid six off deep covers. Just awesome. Albie Morkel too yielded a lot of runs. So, when the pacers got thrashed, Dhoni opted for spin in the powerplayers.

SPINNERS GET THE GAME ALIVE

When Dhoni threw the ball to Murali, the experienced Spin Veteran his job was first of all take Gilly’s wicket and then concede less runs. He tried his bet and only gave away 6 runs off his over. Next, Dhoni turned to Ravi Ashwin who got thrashed for fours in the beginning but in his 5th ball struck timber. Gilly was disappointed as the ball edged his bat and hit the wicket. The very next ball, the slow poke Laxman was run out with a beautiful fielding by Suresh Raina. CSK looked they are back in the game after Gilly Blitskreig. Now, it was the experience of Gibbs and Symonds to take them to a high total. They did so. Symonds and Gibbs scored some sixes and fours and kept the rate steady. But, they couldn’t cope it till the final over as both Gibbs and Symonds got run out (45 and 50 runs). Dhoni made a blunder as he opted Tyagi to bowl the last over and he got thrashed and yielded 22 taking the total to 190.

BAD START FOR CSK

Everyone expected a lot from Hayden with his Mongoose bat. But, the Old Fox Chaminda Vaas did not let it to happen. Gilly gave a surprise to all as he opted to bowl Rohit Sharma but Hayden was happiest with that and hit him out of the park. Vaas did not let the CSK team for a good start as he got rid of Murali Vijay. Raina came in at No.3 and had a job in his hands to rebuild the damage. But, after the shot he struck for a shot, he misjudged one and hit it back to Gilly.

Game was not over yet for the Chennaians as they had a deep batting order. Hayden started to power at RP Singh. But, again the Old fox came to the rescue. Hayden tried to hit one to fine leg boundary but with Vaas bowling at a snail pace, he got out. Game was a cliff hanger now. Any chance was possible.

CSK FALL SHORT

Justin Kemp and Dhoni tried to consolidate the innings right from the moment go. They tried to hit newbie Jaskaran Singh. But, with the slow track of Chennai and Rohit Sharma and Ojha flighting the ball, it became a mere impossible to achieve the target. The team were restricted to their spin. First Kemp fell to Ojha’s flight, next Dhoni got out. There was nothing that poor boy Albie could do. Match closed for Chennai with 31 runs short.

IPL kicks off today

IPL IS BACK AND UNDOUBTEDLY WITH A BANG! THIS YEAR IS EVEN MORE SPECIAL AS IT’S THE HOMECOMING OF IPL AFTER A SUCCESSFUL SECOND SEASON IN SOUTH AFRICA. THOUGH THE USUAL BUZZ HAS STRANGELY BEEN  MISSING  , THE TIME HAS COME FOR IPL3 TO FINALLY START !

NEW PLAYERS, STRONGER TEAMS  AND OF COURSE NEW TALENTS OUT OF THE BLUE  HAS RAISED THE EXPECTATION LEVELS OF THE THIRD SEASON! THOUGH QUITE A FEW INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS MIGHT BE MISSING OUT THE INITIAL PART OF THE TOURNEY, OUR OWN DOMESTIC POOL IS ENOUGH TO PROVIDE THE CRACKERS !  THIS SEASON IS ALSO BEING STREAMED LIVE ON YOUTUBE!

THE MAIN PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR THE SEASON ARE KIERON POLLARD, MITCHELL MARSH, JUSTIN KEMP , ADRIAN BARATH , GEORGE BAILEY AND MANY MORE !

THIS TOURNAMENT IS ALSO IMPORTANT FOR THE YOUNGSTERS WHO WANNA MAKE IT TO THE INDIAN TEAM THAT FLIES TO THE WINDIES FOR THE T20 WORLD CUP!

THE FIRST MATCH OF THE SEASON IS  DECCAN CHARGERS VERSUS KOLKATTA NIGHT RIDERS.

A BRIEF PREVIEW OF THE MATCH

DECCAN CHARGERS

STRENGTHS:

TEAM’S STRENGTH HAS ALWAYS BEEN THEIR BATTING WHICH CLICKED AS A UNIT LAST YEAR AND EVENTUALLY MADE THEM WIN THE TOURNAMENT. THIS TIME AROUND TOO ITS MORE OR LESS THE SAME TEAM. BATTING OPENED BY GILCHRIST AND GIBBS ,FOLLOWED BY LAXMAN , ROHIT SHARMA, V.RAO  AND A WRECKER-IN-CHIEF ANDREW SYMONDS IS ENOUGH TO GIVE ANY SIDE THE JITTERS. THE BOWLING HAS BEEN POWERED WITH THE INCLUSION OF ROACH.

WEAKNESS:

THE TEAM FOR TODAY HAS A HUGE AND EXPLOSIVE BATSMEN BUT NO RYAN HARRIS AND KEMAR ROACH. RP SINGH IS NOT IN GREAT FROM.

OPPURTUNITIES:

THEY CAN PROVE THAT THEIR FIST WIN WAS NO FLUKE AND THEY ARE STILL THE CHAMPIONS.

KOLKATTA NIGHT RIDERS

STRENGTHS :

IN A TOURNAMENT LIKE THIS ALL-ROUNDERS PLAY A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE.PLAYERS  LIKE AJIT AGARKAR , ANGELO MATHEWS ,SHUKLA CAN BE QUITE HANDY WITH THE BALL . GANGULY , GAYLE,  HODGE , CAN ALSO MAKE A FEW OVERS PASS BY QUICKLY.

WEAKNESS :

FIELDING AND BOWLING AT DEATH HAS BEEN THE MAJOR WEAKNESS OF THIS TEAM IN BOTH THE PREVIOUS SEASONS. NEW COACH WHATMORE PERHAPS WILL RESOLVE THIS ISSUE. LAST SEASONS DEBACLE MIGHT BE PLAYING ON THEIR MINDS TOO.

OPPURTUNITIES :

THEIR BATTING HAS ENOUGH FIREPOWER TO CHASE DOWN ANY TOTAL AND THE BREATHNECK PACE AT WHICH THEY SCORE THEY CAN POST HIGH TOTALS TOO.

BOTH TEAMS ARE EVENLY MATCHED ON PAPER ,BUT IPL IS ALL ABOUT PLAYING AT THE MIDDLE. SO GRAB A DRINK AND ENJOY THE SEASON.

LET THE GREAT INDIAN SEASON BEGIN!!!!!

JOIN US AT THE LIVE CHAT!