Archive for March, 2011

  • 30 Mar

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    India beat Pakistan, enters World Cup final

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    India Won 2nd Semi Final of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 by 29 Runs against Pakistan on 30 March at Mohali

    Man of the Match: Sachin Tendulkar

    Score Board : 1st Innings IND: 260/9 (50) RR: 5.20 l 2nd Innings PAK: 231/10 (49.5) RR: 4.63

    Image Courtesy : Rediff.com

    India has won by 29 runs in the second semi final of ICC World Cup 2011 against Pakistan today in the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali.

    It’s a great victory for team India as they now entered into the grand finale of ICC World Cup 2011. The final match is going to be held on April 2 against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium situated at Mumbai in India.

    Opting to bat first, India’s opening batsman Virendra Sehwag played brilliantly as he managed to deliver 38 runs from 32 balls which include 9 super boundaries. Man of the match – Sachin tendulkar again attached a feature on his cap with his half century covering 85 runs with 11 boundaries.

    However, captian Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir gave brilliant innings that added good run score to the board. Though, this time Yuvraj Singh could get chance to show his skills as he was get clean bowled by Riaz in the first ball itself. Thanks to Raina, who scored 36 run to add a brilliant innings for India. Thus, India made a target of 261 runs for Pakisthan.

    For India, Harbhajan Singh becomes the hero with his superb bowling as he took the two important wickets of Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi and all indian bowlers picked up two wickets.

    From the side of Pakistan, the notable performer was Misbahul Haq who scored a half century and Mohammad Hafeez made  43 runs innings as compared to other team member of Pakistani players in today’s match.

    India reached the Third time in ICC Cricket World Cup’s before this India played Final in 1983 and 2003 and won in 1983 against West Indies and loose in 2003 against Australia.

     

    Brief score:

    India: 260 for nine in 50 overs (Sachin Tendulkar 85, Virender Sehwag 38, Wahab Riaz 5/46).

    Pakistan: 231 all out in 49.5 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 56; Mohammad Hafeez 43; Ashish Nehra 2/33, Munaf Patel 2/40, Harbhajan Singh 2/43, Yuvraj Singh 2/57).

     

  • 30 Mar

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    Two Asian teams to contest World Cup final for first time

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    It is interesting to note that the three teams who are left in the fray for a Cricket World Cup win are the three teams which lost in the final of the previous three Cricket World Cup tournaments. Sri Lanka went down in 2007, India in 2003 whereas Pakistan were ousted in 1999.

    So, one of the runner-up will definitely go on to win the tournament this time.

    More interestingly, all the three teams have also won the World Cup once, and are Asian teams. This is the first time that there will be two Asian teams which will contest the final of a World Cup, which is something good for them.

    If India go through to the final, it will be a revenge game for them against Sri Lanka after having lost to them and crashed out in 2007. Secondly, it could also be a repeat of what happened in the 1996 Cricket World Cup, where India beat Pakistan in a high-voltage game before succumbing to Sri Lanka in a low-profile match.

  • 30 Mar

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    Sri Lankan bowling wins them semi-final against New Zealand

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    New Zealand fought hard but in the end, were no match for the firepower of Sri Lanka. The batting was much better but in the end, it was the Sri Lankan bowling that made all the difference.

    The problem that the Kiwis faced from the word go on a sticky Colombo track was that they could not score quickly enough. Not for a moment did it look like they would get to 260 an even towards the end of the innings when the acceleration could have come in, Sri Lanka bowled really well.

    So, now it is two games in a row that Lankan have bowled much better than any other side in the competition. They will be facing India or Pakistan in the cricket world cup final and the sense that one gets is that they will prefer the batting of Pakistan – which has struggled in the competition so far.

    However, for that, Pakistan will first need to beat India in the semi-final of the tournament and that could be the difficult part.

  • 29 Mar

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    Time for Ponting to give up batting as well

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    Ricky Ponting has said that one of the reasons why he has quit his captaincy is because he would like to focus on his batting. He has also said that he will look to regain his touch in the same manner as Tendulkar had in the last couple of years.

    Dear Ponting, to regain that touch, you need to acknowledge much before hand that you were not in touch. Not for a minute through all the last couple of years did you do that – how can you expect to acknowledge that?

    Secondly, the reason why Tendulkar was able to get back to touch was because he overcame his injuries. Do you have any injuries that you need to get fit from? If not, what is the plan of action? Do you think that you can try and get back to form even as your side struggles to blood new guys?

    It is time to move on mate, get into the commentary box or even get going as a coach or something. Enough batting done.

  • 28 Mar

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    Sri Lanka will be favourites to enter final

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    It was not a surprise to see Sri Lanka play the manner in which they did in the cricket world cup game against the English side. While many would have hoped for a surprise in the game much like how South Africa had gone down, Sri Lanka were playing at home.

    It was interesting to see how the English side batted in the last ten overs. It was almost a case of being too cautious and that is where they lost the game to the opponents.

    What the New Zealand side will need to do to be able to get the better of their opponents in the semi-final is to bat much better than they have, or England did in that quarter-final. There cannot be too much doubt that a target of 250-260 will be difficult to chase and the asking rate can climb up with a few good overs.

    To get to that total, New Zealand will need not only a strong start but also a good battle against the spinners.

  • 28 Mar

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    How India can beat Pakistan in ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final

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    It will be a game to remember, hopefully, for years to come, but for the Indian fans, nothing short of a win will do. What the Indians need to do to win the game is the following:

    1. Win toss, bat: This is the most logical thing to do but the issue is that the Indians have seen that in the past Pakistan has chased down totals of around 300 and that, in turn, has caused heartache. However, the Indians need to back their bowling in a pressure game like this and not allow the Pakistanis to bat first if they did win the toss.

    2. Get in Sreesanth: Now, the issue is that Munaf Patel, despite being a good bowler has become fairly predictable and it will make sense for the side to try and get somebody fresh, who hasn’t had too many chances in the tournament. In a high pressure game like this, it will also make sense for the side to get in someone who can be charged up and give it back to the opponent.

  • 28 Mar

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    How Pakistan can beat India in ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final

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    Pakistan weren’t tipped to get to the cricket world cup semi-final but they have done well to get there. In fact, they look slightly better than their opponents and will look to beat India to get to the final of the tournament.

    1. Shahid Afridi to surprise with bat: Afridi is a dangerous bowler but one gets the sense that if he can bat for 30 balls in the middle, it could totally deflate the Indian bowling. That is a surprise that he will need to deliver by shutting his critics up and batting sensibly.

    2. Get in Shoaib Akhtar: India struggle against raw pace and besides that, there is some old, pent-up anger in Akhtar. The last time the two sides had played in a game, the Indians had won by getting the runs with a tussle between Harbhajan Singh and Akhtar resulting in a near-finger pointing. Time for revenge?

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