Adieu to a cracking journey- WC

There are very events in the world which can topple the human heart and mind as easily as this year’s World cup… “First ball of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011..from Shafiul Islam to Virender Sehwag…smashed past extra cover and it’s a boundary…WHAT A BEGINNING !!… 1..2..3.. the cricket world cup has finally kicked off with a blast !! The most awaited and the first blockbuster event of the decade is finally here…Its most welcome anticipation across the globe, especially, in the fourteen participatin gnations of which four were associate nations. Two groups, group A and group B were to form seven teams each. Group A would have Pakistan, Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Canada battling it out. On the other side, Group B would consist of India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands contesting strongly. Top four teams from each group would qualify for the first stage of knockouts – The Quarter finals.

No Sachin, Dhawan comes in

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced the Indian ODI team which will play a 3 One Day Series against the Australians in Kochi, Vishakapatnam and Goa. But the sad news is that, Sachin Tendulakar is being rested yet again. He played his last ODI which we cannot forget and he too won’t, the ODI in Gwalior where he scored a 200 not out.

Cheteshwar Pujara: Mr. Classic

Now comes the call for Cheteshwar Pujara. As usual would he get a place in the Final Playing Eleven is a question. It is common in recent times that a Player is given a debut call and after the Series, he is dropper just like Abhimanyu Mithun. What wrong did Mithun do to be dropped?

Ok. Let me not get into this debate as this mainly focuses on Pujara- his style, temperament and mainly his class. Oh! This Batsman can also be tagged as Mr. Patient. In these days of T20 power hitting, Pujara is a player with patience along with aggression. I believe, he is completely a tailor made player for Test Cricket.

Pujara has been knocking the test door since some time now. He has been signed up by the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL. After his excellent performance in Domestic Circuit, he went on to score a triple century in Ranji trophy and even in CK Nayudu U-22 tournament for Saurashtra.

He has played 49 Domestic 5 day matches scoring a whooping 3925 with 60.38. This is a great average for Test game. Not only this, in One Day domestic he has played 44 matches with an average of 57.08 scoring 1941 runs. This is purely

From the stat, we find a Great batsman with terrific  skills in Cheteshwar Pujara with temperament, technique, style. Will he be the next big star is a question and will be answered in Indo- Aus series.

He is going to play in the team in the likes of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman and Dravid. Yes, they are big huge names. But, there will be some tears shed for Yuvraj as Pujara has taken his place.

But Yuvraj didn’t do enough to cement his place once Ganguly retired. Now, he has payed the price for it. Suresh Raina recently replaced Yuvraj and did excellently well but not strong enough.

Hoping that Cheteshwar Pujara gets to play in the XI and does well.

India really prepared for 2011?

The last game between India and Sri Lanka saw a very poor performance from the Indian Batsmen. Yuvraj Singh, the highest scorer, scoring 38 runs. When others score, Yuvraj doesn’t score, when Yuvraj scores, others don’t score. India without Sachin Tendulkar+ Gautam Gambhir totally rely upon Virender Sehwag only.

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,

T20 WC squad: India

Just when one third of the Indian Premier League is completed, Kris Srikkanth and co decided the final 15 players for the twenty twenty world Cup which will take place in West Indies starting April 29th.

It was a tough job to pick the 15 as there are many good players in the 30 man probables.

Young Pacer Ishant Sharma who was part of last year World Cup has been dropped giving a chance to Vinay Kumar.

But, some good performers till now in the IPL- Robin Uthappa, Saurabh Tiwary, Murali Karthik, Amit Mishra, Virat Kohli have not been considered.

The team is placed in group C along with the South Africans and Afghanisthan. Key players will be Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan who were missed in World Cup 2008.

Squad:

MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Piyush Chawla, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Vinay Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan.

Finishing the innings- A responsibility: Maxertainment 3

FINISHING WELL

In the T20 format, it is always very important to finish well. May it be during batting or bowling. Here, we discuss about some of the finishers of the different IPL teams. These key players are pretty much the deciding factors whether their teams cross the finish line or not.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Undoubtedly, the incredible Yusuf Pathan is their finisher. Yusuf Pathan who evolved as an exceptional T20 player in the first season has grown from strength to strength. His power hitting and his positive attitude have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for the Royals. The recently 100(37 balls) against Mumbai Indians is a burning example of the effect Yusuf has on the opposition. Looking at the current form, he could be again prove to be the biggest game changer for Rajasthan Royals.

CHENNAI SUPERKINGS

Captain cool Dhoni and Albie Morkel are the finishers for this batting heavy team. The fact that helps Superkings is that they are packed with allrounders so they are not heavily dependant on both of them. Though Raina and Haydos are the mainstays at the top, the finishing act is shared between Dhoni, Morkel, Badrinath and the all rounders.

DELHI DAREDEVILS

AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik are the main people responsible for finishing off games. Delhi has some good local talent like Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia who are capable of giving both the main finishers a good support and saving the tail from being exposed.  Mainly if one of the top four Sehawag, Gambhir, De Villiers or Dilshan clicks, they make sure that they finish the game.

KINGS XI PUNJAB

The finishers are Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan. The addition of an allrounder like James Hopes will help their cause. Irfan and Yuvraj have been very successful in previous 2 editions but this time both come back from injuries so there is a big question mark on their form.

MUMBAI INDIANS

For the first season it was Abhishek Nayar and for the second season it was JP Duminy. Mumbai Indians have been the team which has underperformed purely because of they haven’t been able to win the close games. This season, they have started out well pulling off a dramatic victory over the Royals. But Mumbai Indians have identified the local talents like Sathish and Saurabh Tiwary and the return of players like Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, it will add a huge boast to the ending.

KOLKATA KNIGHTRIDERS

David Hussey is one of the strongest finishers for KKR. During his unavailability, Angelo Mathews has fitted into the role of a finisher perfectly. Domestic Players like Wriddhiman Saha and Laxmi Ratan Shukla  have also shown that in tense situations they are quite capable of handling the finishing job.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

Ross Taylor, Mark Boucher and the young Virat Kohli are the batsmen RCB will depend upon to take their team home. Ross Taylor has been their biggest finisher, especially in the 2nd season he had invaluable contributons to RCB’s turnaround of fortunes. During his absence, Kohli and Boucher are quite ready to handle the finishing job.

DECCAN CHARGERS

Heavily dependant on one person to do the finishing job, the very talented Rohit Sharma. Rohit Sharma was exceptional in finishing the games for Deccan Chargers in season 2 which was one of the main reasons for their success. Though they have a great start they always put themselves in such a situation where Rohit has to bail them out.

THANKS TO THE GUEST EDITOR: PRACHURYA KIRTI NAYAK

Maxertainment 3: Gambhir guides DD to victory

If there was a batsman who could heavily be relied upon after Rahul Dravid, it was Gautam Gambhir. He cannot hit far but can stay long. He delivered what was required after the fall of the trio power- Sehwag, Dilshan and AB.

BALANCED START FOR KXIP:

The start got both some runs and Delhiites got breakthroughs. Dirk Nannes and Farveez Mahroof kept troubling the Punjabi guys. The stadium was roaring and with banners saying ” Mind says Delhi but Heart says Punjab”. From the starting itself the Daredevils had a edge over the Kings. Mahroof got a doubler in the last over of the powerplay when Skipper Sangakkara and Yuvraj could not capitalize from their starts but had a long hop to the hut. Next ball, Jayawardene had a golden duck and a long walk back to the dug out.

REBUILDING THE INNINGS:

With, 4 Kings back in the hut and not even fifty up on the board, it was the duty of Ravi Singh Bopara and Irafan Pathan to do the Rebuilding the score. They went on to do so, with a cautious approach and had over a fifty partnership. The team had a hundred in the 13th over. So, above 160 looked easy until the blunder Irfan Pathan did got stumped. Wickets started tumbling for the Punjabi fellows. There was nothing that Bopara could do but he too got out. But, Sreesanth didn’t leave it off, he started to slog every ball. At the end of 20 overs, KXIP managed 142 runs.

UNEXPECTED DISASTER FOR DD:

Everyone would have thought it would be an easy going for the fiery Daredevils with Explosive Sehwag at the top. But, Sreesanth did not let it happen. For Delhi’s horror, both big bucks Sehwag and Dilshan were back in the hut in the same over. Now, it was the responsibility of Gambhir and AB de Villers to rebuild the innings.

GAMBHIR LEADS THE TEAM FROM THE FRONT:

Gambhir, the skipper of DD was scoring with a cautious intent in one side. On the other end, AB was struggling and for DD’s and his luck he fell short of the crease and was run out. Gambhir would have told the same to Dinesh Karthik who came in fall of AB, just be calm and don’t get out. Karthik gave a good support to Gambhir but soon when Yusuf Abdulla was introduced, he struck his first wicket of IPL removing Karthik.

Gambhir had lost another partner in the process. Soon, Mithun Manhas came in to support Gambhir who scored his fifty and led the team to a hundred. Mitts too was striking the ball well and reduced the pressure from Gauti’s shoulders. The fifty partnership was on between Gauti and Mitts. At last, with one ball remaining Gautam Gambhir led the team to a tight victory. Match was pure cliff hanger.

Preview: Kings XI Punjab

PREVIEW: Kings XI Punjab

Comparing the glamour factor, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) is one of the best teams in the IPL with the bubbly Preity Zinta as its co-owner along with Ness Wadia. With Yuvraj, Sangakara and Jayawardene in the batting line up and bowlers like Brett Lee, Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth, aggression is the other name of the team. Team had to be disappointed in the 1^st season as it failed to move beyond the semifinal level.

In 2009, when the IPL moved to South Africa, the power packed side faltered before the semifinal stage. The failure can be attributed to the absence of the pace spearhead Brett Lee. Yuvraj Singh was also not consistent though he got 2 hat-tricks in the IPL 2. The only find for the team was Yusuf Abdullah, whom the team bought again this year.

Luke Pomersbach and Nuwan Kulasekara were bought ahead of the 2010 auction while they picked former India batsman Mohammed Kaif who is expected to recreate the magic with Yuvraj Singh in the Punjab side under new captain Kumar Sangakkara.

KEY PLAYERS:

Yuvraj Singh: When he is on song, there is no sight as majestic in the cricketing world. He will be keen to perform and score good amount of runs as it will be the 1^st tournament after his recovery from injury. The man with records like fastest 50 in T20 interntionals, 6 sixes in an over in ODIs, will be the most dangerous man for the opponents.

Kumara Sangakara: Probably, he is one of the best in his field when it comes to technique. He will try to prove his mettle after being appointed as the captain of the side. Adding to his unparallel batting techniques, he is a great player to have in the side for his work behind the stumps.

Mahela Jayawardene: The middle order batsman of the Sri Lankan side will be the anchor of the KXIP middle order. His skills to play elegant shots make it tough for the opponent bowlers to get him out. His precision in shot selection and placement is beyond comparison.

Irfan Pathan: As IPL returns to India, Irfan will be more lethal than the last edition. Irfan has got impressive records in the Indian conditions. His swing can put even the best batsmen in trouble. His pinch hitting abilities makes him the perfect bowling allrounder for the team.

Yusuf Abdulla: 27 year old medium pacer from South Africa impressed all with his bowling in the IPL 2. The team bought him back this year when his 1 year contract ended. His strength is to vary the pace and the angle of deliveries. Opponent batsmen must be aware!

SQUAD:  AB Barath, K Goel, DPMD Jayawardene, M Kaif, RS Bopara, S Marsh, Y Singh, TM Srivastava, K Sangakara, MS Bisla, I Pathan, J Hopes, RS Sodhi, Bipul Sharma, B Lee, PP Chawla, RR Powar, L Ablish, SJ Srivastava, S Sreesanth, VS Malik, Y Abdulla, Amanpreet Singh