The Royal Battle to Unforgettable Glory

Border Gavaskar Trophy 2010, perhaps  the most awaited test series of the year… for it was the clash of two world class teams, Numero Uno test team India and the second best test team Australia.

Very Very Special Laxman

This bomb-shell from the Deccan has been one of the best player that the Indian side has had ever since. He is mainly known for his stroke play and leg glance. One of his favorite rivals who he would love to play against are the Aussies. We cannot forget any of the innings that he played against this Kangaroos.

The great epic of Mohali

Indeed, it was the best test match I have ever seen in my life. The whole Test was exciting except for the first day where the Australians were scoring on a cautious pace. But, the excitement started and the whole match’s result was changing every day.

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.

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.

Sangakkara replaces Sehwag as Top Test Batsman

Kumar Sangakkara overtook Virender Sehwag as the No.1 Batsman in Test Cricket rankings after his blistering double hundred against India in the 2nd Test. Sehwag has been dropped to No.2 spot after the 99 against Lanka in second Test game.

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.

Day 1 of the Maxertainment 3 ends on a high!

The IPL 3 has kick started in a superb form. Yet, another classy performance in the acts of the opening ceremony. The whole stadium rocked. Deepika was sizzling. UB-40 was fantastic. The crowds at DY Patil were going mad.

The first match, DC vs KKR, started off. DC’s Gilly won the toss and chose to field first. Rudi Koetzen said Lets Play and the Game begun. For the horror of the KKR team, they lost the first wicket in the first ball when Manoj Tiwary hit it to the covers.

Soon, the all expected Dada Ganguly too fell to the Old Fox Chaminda Vaas and took a long hop to the dug out for a duck.

It seemed all the same for the KKR team, same like the season two. Soon, Brad Hodge and Cheteshwar Pujara too got out. The Kolkata team were struggling at 31/4.

But, the 129 run partnership re-build the team and made their score a respectable one with Angelo Mathews (65 runs) and Owais Shah (54 runs).

The Deccan Chargers, Defending Champs came into bat with a target of 162 runs. The DC camp had a strong batting line up and everyone expected that it was a easy win for them.

The starting for the Chargers looked like slogging until VVS Laxman (22 runs) got out at 61 runs on the board. A good batsman goes out and a better one comes in. Herchelle Gibbs came in to partner his captain Adam Gilchrist. But the spin of Hodge, got him out for 54 runs just when the team score was reaching hundred.

Perhaps, everyone would have thought Symonds and Rohit Sharma is there and they will win it for them. But .everything changed with Gilly’s dismissal. Charl Langeveldt got his first wicket of the tournament when he got rid of his countryman, Gibbs (19 runs).

Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds were expected to do more. But, soon Symonds hit a ball to Sourav Ganguly’s hands ending his innings for just 5.

Rohit Sharma too didn’t stay long as not expected. Just adding 13 runs to the scorecard, he too perished with the ball of Mathews.

Winning dreams perhaps changed for them. Only, newbies were left. Anureet Singh and Tirumalsetti Suman could not ensure that DC win.

So, KKR ensured that they had a win in their hands as they won with 11 runs.

Its the same saga this year. DC were last in 2008 and came to win the IPL in 2009. KKR were last in 2009. The question is Will they be the Champs this year?

Proteas really the favorites at Eden

With a stupendous performance in Nagpur, The South Africans are waiting for the Eden Gardens test match starting this Sunday to whitewash India and become the World Champions in test Cricket.

But probably for the Indian side, it might be some good news around because VVS Laxman will have a return to the inexperienced middle order at his favorite cricket ground, the Mecca of Cricket. But, for the Hyderabadi, there might be some surprise waiting in the other end as the South African batsman AB De Villiers has sent out a strong warning to him.

The batsman, AB says that they will be surely aiming for 2-0 victory and are fully prepared for it. He says we are playing good cricket with back to back wins in last 2 tests. They are in a condition to play some brand cricket. He tells that VVS Laxman surely will be tested even though he is an expert.

The South Africans say that they would be ready to play on any wicket after hearing the controversy of the Eden turner pitch.

Shocking news for the Visitors is the their Skipper Graeme Smith has injured his finger during his practice session. His participation in the last test is still in doubt. The X-Ray has been taken and it has been confirmed that it is not a fracture. But reports show that it might be some kind of ligament damage. Smith has been injured a many times in the recent past and his participation is not yet confirmed.

If Smith won’t play it won’t be surprising to see if AB De Villiers will lead the team. AB accepts that the victory in Nagpur has come because of Players like Kallis, Smith and Boucher who took the leading roles.

Lastly, AB Quotes that They will never let it down.