World Cups and Champions Trophies

World Cup
England, 1975
In the first edition of the ICC cricket World Cup, the 'Black Cat' and his men were unstoppable. In fact, it was Clive Lloyd, whose counter-attacking 102 off 85 balls set West Indies on the way in the final to 291 in 60 overs. A young Viv Richards scored three run-outs to derail the Australian retort and the West Indies won by seventeen runs to win the first World Cup.

World Cup
England, 1979
It was the West Indies again, who clinched the second edition of World Cup. The unstoppable Vivan Richards hit an unbeaten 138 as the West Indies posted 286. Geoff Boycott and Bearley took almost 40 overs for their opening wicket partnership of 129. Joel 'Big Bird' Garner took five as England folded out for 194.

World Cup
England, 1983
One of the upsets of cricketing history, if not the sporting history. Rank outsiders, India were bowled out for 183 in the final by a West Indian bowling line-up, which consisted of Andy Roberts, Malcom Marshall, Joel Garner and Michael Holding. Looking at the pace quartet, Kapil and India would have taken 183. In a 'nothing to lose' situation, Kapil's Devils bowled the West Indies out for 140 to put India on the cricketing map.

World Cup
India, 1987
For the first time, the World cup moved outside England and the number of overs were reduced from 60 to 50. World champions, World Series champions, hosts and hot favorites, India, went out in the semis to England. Chasing Australia's 253 in the final , Mike Gatting's infamous reverse sweep triggered a collapse as they lost to the Kangaross by seven runs.

World Cup
Australia/New Zealand, 1992
The tournament saw colored clothing and day-night games for the first time. Pakistan would have gone out had rain not intervened in the 13th match of the tournament against England. As history has it, they went on to beat England in the final by 22 runs. Young Wasim Akram came round the wicket to pick two in two to seal England's fate to another defeat in a World Cup Final.

World Cup
India, 1996
Sri Lanka shocked the world, first with their '15-over tactics' and then going on to win the world cup. Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharna set the tone and typified Sri Lanka's apprach in the world cup- fearless, aggresive and nothing-to-lose. Ashanka Gurusinha, Aravinda De Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Hashan Tillakratne and Roshan Mahanama gave the middle order more than just a solid look. If Jayasuriya and Kalu failed, as they did in the semi-final against India, Aravinda would counter-attack and the rest would play around him. Vaas, Wickramasinghe, Murali and Dharmasena, supported by the likes of Jayasuriya and Aravinda formed pretty much the ideal bowling line-up for the sub-continent conditions. They went on to beat Australia in the final by seven wickets, the first time a team batting second won the final of a world cup.

Champions Trophy
Bangladesh, 1998
In the first "non-world-cup" ICC tournament, Jacques Kallis inspired South Africa to a five-wicket win over the West Indies in the final. The young all-rounder from Cape town took five for 30 and then scored 37 to set the Proteas on the way to victory after Philo Wallace had scored a blazing 103 off 102 balls. Earlier, in South Africa's semi-final encounter against Sri Lanka, Kallis smashed 113 (5x4, 5x6) off 100 balls. Murali was hit for 48 runs in six overs.

World Cup
England, 1999
Lance Klusener was unstopabble for South Africa. With three genuine all-rounders (Klusener, Pollock and Kallis), the Proteas were ideally suited to the English conditions. They seemed to be cruising in the tournament, but a Steve Waugh-inspired Australia had other plans. Pakistan, another team with three quality all-rounders (Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood and Wasim Akram), also had a wily spinner in Saqlain and an express tearaway in Shoaib Akhtar. But Mcgrath, Warne, Waugh and Co. proved to too hot to handle for the men in green. The final turned out to be an anti-climax as Australia steam-rolled Pakistan, winning by eight wickets.

Champions Trophy
Kenya, 2000
A young Indian team, led by a new captain, Saurav Ganguly, comprised of little known, but fearless players like Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan. India was the team to watch with an ideal blend of young and experienced players (Sachin, Saurav and Kumble). They shocked Australia and then humbled South Africa in the semi-final. They were running away with the game in the final before they were hit by this thing called Chris Cairns. The burly, curly-haired all-rounder first bowled a frugal spell of 10-2-40-0 when the Indian openers were running away with the game. He then walked in at the fall of the third wicket and scored a belligerent unbeaten 102 to take the Black Caps to an unlikely victory.

Champions Trophy
Sri Lanka, 2002
Shoaib Malik became the first player to be give out LBW by the third umpire in the inaugural game against Sri Lanka.
By this time, India were on a roll. An aggressive skipper (Ganguly), a stable yet explosive batting line-up (Sachin, Saurav, Sehwag, Dravid) at the top,a young middle-order(Yuvraj, Kaif), quality spinners (Harbhajan, Kumble) and a good attack led by Zaheer. They had most things of what a good team should have. They were on the back of an amazing Natwest series win in England, where they beat the hosts by two wickets chasing 326. They were well and truly on the way to victory in the final after restricting Sri Lanka to under 250. Rain gods smiled on the hosts and saved their day. Ironically, the exact same thing happened the next day in the replay and India had to share the series with Sri Lanka.

World Cup
South Africa, 2003
The World cup moved to the African continent for the first time. Only two teams could have stopped the Aussie juggernaut in the eight edition of the World cup. One was Pakistan (because they are Pakistan!) and the other was India, with its wealthy batting line-up. Pakistan, being Pakistan, were knocked out in the first round! The impressive Indian sprint was halted by the Aussies in the final. Ponting and Martyn made the most of a nervous Indian bowling line-up to post a mammoth 359 after India put Australia in to bat! Even desperate Indian prayers for rain, which was their last hope, were not answered and India was bowled out for 234.

Champions Trophy
England, 2004
When Ian Bradshaw strode out to the center in the final, England had reduced West Indies to 147-8. By the time he came out, he and wicket-keeper Browne had put on 70 runs and West Indies surpassed Englands' 217. An amazing victory, which unfortunately, turned out to be a flash in the pan rather than a West Indies revival.

Champions Trophy
India, 2006
Contrary to expectation, this tournament was marked by low totals (forerunner to this world cup?). Teams defended scores of around 200 successfully. In one of the preliminary games, Jerome Taylor took a hat-trick, when the Aussies were chasing 225 for victory, to bowl West Indies to victory. Unfortunately for them, there was no such drama in the final. Australia bowled West Indies out for 116 and chased it down. The final will also be remembered for Ponting pushing the Indian chief guest off the stage during the presentation ceremony.

World Cup
West Indies, 2007
The first World cup in the Carribean will, unfortunately, be remembered for the death of Bob Woolmer. India's exit from the World cup in the first round meant that the viewership reduced drastically. None of this affected the Australians. They went on to hammer Sri Lanka in the final, thanks to a whirlwind 149 off 104 balls from Gilchrist. Ponting, Gilchrist and McGrath completed a hat-trick of World cups.

T20 World Cup
South Africa, 2007
India and Pakistan had a chance to revive themselves after first round exits in the World cup earlier that year. Revive themselves, they certainly did. In the first round encounter between the two teams, India won in a bowl-out after the two teams had tied. The final seemed to be heading to a similar result. Chasing 157 to win, Pakistan needed 12 to win off the last over. When the equation got down to six off four, Misbah attempted a 'Marillier' over short-fine-leg. He forgot that there is a Mallu in every corner of the world. Sreesanth took the catch and India won by five runs to send the nation into delirium.

T20 World Cup
England, 2009
Pakistan was surrounded by all sorts of off-field controversies. Change of captains, players being threatened, match-fixing allegations, terrorist attacks on touring teams. It was typical of them to go on to win the second edition of the T20 World cup in such circumstances. Afridi was the hero for Pakistan, both with bat and the ball. The all-rounder hit an unbeaten half-century in the final to take them to an easy eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka.

Champions Trophy
South Africa, 2009
Ponting and Watson inspired Australia to yet another major trophy. Australia made a mockery of England's 258 in the semi-final, winning by nine wickets. Watson and Ponting scored centuries to take their team home after England recovered through Tim Bresnan's 80 to take them to 258. In the other semi-final, New Zealand beat Pakistan. Watson scored another century in the final to guide them to a six-wicket victory.


T20 World Cup
West Indies, 2009
Mike Hussey reminded everyone of the 'Australianism' to pull off an amazing come-from-behind victory in the semi-final over Pakistan. He hit Saeed Ajmal for 19 in the last over of the match to take the Aussies home. But, it was Collingwood's England who had the last laugh, winning their first major trophy after beating Australia in the final. Man of the Series, Kevin Pieterson was in fine form. His 47 off 31 balls in the final helped England overhaul Australia's 147.


source: cricketweb.net

Kapil Dev :: Straight From the Heart

On telling someone in an interview that I loved reading autobiographies, the interviewer asked me have I read anything about Kapil Dev. I replied a no !! making a sad face. I ordered his autobiography "Straight From the Heart" the same day.

Kapil Dev is Dhoni of Old era or that would be injustice to great legend, I would say Dhoni is Kapil of new era. Both have few similarities being brought up in non cricketers producing states of India and both lifted the world cup in earlier stages of their captaincy.

Book start with memories of Kapil's childhood days. Kuckoo as he was known in his family was into sports and atheletics since his childhood and was as away from his studies as is Jammu is away from Kanyakumari. Playing whole day not cricket but football, coming back home and pretending to sleep in front of his father so that he is not scolded for studying. But as we know father is father how much we say child is father of his father. He got trapped when his father used to say this football is torn and it should be thrown away. In a flash Kuckoo was awake and his father used to say "Hmm t rajkumar jaag rahe hain. Ab jaag hi rahe hain, to inse kahye ki thode der baithkar padhaai kar leing... Nautanki kahi ka...."

Just like any other Indian family where children are pushed to only study and study same was the case in Kuckoo's family. Kapil loved challenges and he writes one incident of trying to get on the back of police horses who were not used to clumsy boys. He was successful after few attempts and he takes the police horses away and is caught by his father.

Kapil was as ignorant about cricket as most of the Indians are about Ice Hockey. He used to ask his brother about players when his big brother used to read a cricket magazine.

Kapil used to get irritated when his bother disturbed his sleep listening to cricket commentary in the night. He is introduced to playing cricket by his brother Bushan when one of their team member is absent and Kapil is used in place of 11th player. He showed his fielding skills and impressed everyone. His natural talent is again seen by eveyone when in other match his 4 hits in 5 balls are out of boundary and during bowling he also took 3 wickets. On being encouraged by his brother Kuckoo decides that cricket is his future.


Kapil starts his coaching under coach Azad and is asked to increase his stamina by drinking more and more milk. His dad gets two buffaloes in few days and so he became a milk guzzler as was teased by his sister as Nikhanj Milk Diary. He coaches with other cricketers Yograj Singh, Ashok Malhotra. Kuckoo was assertive and fought for his writes, he writes about an incident where he fought with BCCI officials over food quantity in under-19 camp.

Finally his efforts pay off and he makes his debut under Bishen Singh bedi in Pakistan. He has never watched test match before and here is making his debut against arch rivals Pakistan. He feels the bad side of international cricket when he is teased while batting, but his moment infact moment for India came when bowling Pakistani batsman halts the play and ask for a helmet. So here is a fast bowler who has arrived to prove to the world that India can also produce fast bowlers.

He writes about how less money players got and they couldn't afford to get their clothes washed and they used to wash it themselves. He also writes about the divide in the team among seniors and juniors and how the divide wanished when young crickters came and stopped following orders from seniors and asked for equal rights in decision making. He writes about his and gavaskar spat , various tours and World Cup in details. He also writes about BCCI's nature of changing captain every now and then and how little say the players had in BCCI working.

I enjoyed reading about his 175 run knock against Zimbabwe and world cup final. Its exhilariting to read how a team who is at 66-1 odds from beginning of the cup and also the final lifts the world cup. Its an era when BCCI doesn't give lakhs to a team winning world cup but it has to organize a Lata Mangeshkar show to earn money to give to the world cup winning team.

Book is different from other autobiographies in a way that it has not covered only Kapil cricket but also separate chapters are given to his marriage , matchfixing scandal. He talks in detail about his business, he first started a publishing company but has to close that down with the coming up of satellite telivision in India. Later on he started a ground lighting company which has lighted many stadiums across the country.

Till 200 pages there is no talk of marriage, but in chapter "Love Makes you go round" he talks at length about his marriage and love life. I liked the chapter in which he talks about BCCI, honorary presidentship , biased zonal selection. All this is all relevant today and has been going on for ages, one can easily see the biased selection on seeing Balaji in the team as we know Balaji shares state with one of the selectors.

Finally he talks about the Match Fixing saga, cricket fan will surely hate outlook editor Vinod Mehta who without doing proper enquiry kept on publishing what Manoj Prabhakar said about Kapil's involvement. Other one is noted women writer Shobha De who has written in some article like "She never invites cricketers to her party’’. ’’How can She deduce that all cricketers are involved?’’ is what Kapil wants to know. And what to say about another great Mr Bindra Punjab Cricket Board chief who has seen kapil playing and growing in front of him naming Kapil on cnn. You feel sorry for Kapil when you read things like this. You feel like this is not the way to treat people who have brought laurels to nation.

You will enjoy reading about 83 world cup, 175 against zimbabwe, azar and kapil relationship, wisden Indian cricketer of century award, sunil gavaskar and kapil dev saga , romi his wife and her wierd behavior during the 83 final.

Must read for any one who says he is Indian cricket fan

Hat-Trick for Aussies

3 and still no one to stop (img soure: ndtv.com)

It’s finally over, after a two month old, not so fascinating exercise, the cup ended in hands of deserving winners. Aussies have now 3 consecutive World Cup victories along with a 29 match winning streak, which for sure wouldn't be surpassed by any team, atleast in this century. That day I thought Jayasuriya and Sangakara almost started on a road that was quite impossible, in the end it turned out that way only.

Awesome Cricket from the Sri-Lankans too, as I certainly wouldn’t have hoped any better from any team against the Australians. Aussies are too much to reckon with. The day belonged to three people- Gilchrist, McGrath and Jayasuriya. Gillu with his awesome effort with the Bat, Glenn McGrath for an awesome career which had the best possible ending with a victory in World cup and a Man of the Series award and Jayasuriya for a knock which still highlights his fighting spirit, probably his last in an World Cup. Ponting equaled Lloyd but personally I quite dislike him for reasons quite not so in my recognition.

People like Gavsakar should now realize that even if they are arrogant or whatever he thinks to label them they are certainly the BEST and the BEST that there has ever been anyone!!!

Technorati Tags: Cricket, World Cup 2007, Adam Gilchrist, Australia, SriLanka, McGrath, Jayasuriya, World Cup Final

Gillu Bhai Jio!!!

Gilchrist is awesome. His 149 proved that he is one of the bestest player of our generation and he is one of my personal favourites too. Among the Bestest of Best, I was expecting him to make a double, but sadly it didn't happen.

So 281 is what Sri Lanka need in 38 overs. I think its mostly over with the exception of a miracle from Jayasuriya.

Bestest crowd in the Cup so far, and lots of entertainment, it feels like I am seeing atleast a World Cup game.

Once again, Hats off to Gilchrist.

Technorati Tags: Cricket, World Cup 2007, Adam Gilchrist, World Cup Final

Cricket Drama

A lot has been happening in the cricket field and outside the cricket field in the past few days. World cup is nearing its end , semi finalists are already decided SL vs NZ and Aus vs SA. Both matches will be awesome , though most will put their bets on 1996 final repeat i.e. between Aus and SL but when i remember the 434 run chase by the SA I am forced to think otherwise they can beat the Aussies and they would like to do so and remove the chokers tag. NZ team of team players not individual performances but time styris has come out from the stack of players and is shinning like a pole start in the team. Possibility of NZ vs SA final cannot be ruled out but my personal favorite is Sri Lanka and i will put my money on them to lift the cup and restore the Asian Supremacy in cricket atleast.

England's coach Fletcher has resigned, In my opinion england never ever had any chance to reach the semis, they are not the team. Initially they had matches against the minnows and got some points. More concentration on the Ashes and less efforts on the odi side has lead to this downfall, we all know they played the champions trophy for formality. Vaughan should not be in the new team, he performed miserably.

West Indies , i would reckon them little bit unlucky because they got their tough matches in the initial stages and probably this also affected their morale to some extent though not fully. They played badly also. We would no longer see another great Lara, initially he said he will retire from ODI but now he has decided to say bye bye to cricket.

In our neighbor Shoaib Malik is made the captain, they ignored Mohammad Yousuf again. I wish he would revive the trouble ridden Pakistani team.
Indian team for the Bangladesh team will be announced today. I expect Sachin and Ganguly would be rested ( some would say dropped) no India has to play lot of cricket in the coming months so we need them fresh. Bhajji and Sehwag are expected to be dropped . We will know the team in few hours.

I read in ET yesterday that ESPN Star will force the ICC to cut the television rights amount by 15%, this is due to poor performances by India and Pakistan in this WC and also next to next WC will be in Aus/NZ , so the matches will be played very early in the morning

Lots of happening on and off
But
Lets enjoy the final round of the WC

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Dream 11 : World Cup 2007

Yesterday giri posted his dream 11 of the 2007 WC the longest one
So here's mine

Batsman::

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s

1)GC Smith :

9

9

1

441

91

55.12

419

105.25

0

5

0

55

6

I find him among the most dangerous players when he is in flow he can devastate anyone

2) ML Hayden

8

7

1

477

158

79.50

437

109.15

2

1

0

52

15

He has to be there

3) Kallis

9

8

3

480

128*

96.00

569

84.35

1

3

0

42

7

Awesome all rounder , is among runs in the cup , strong contender for Man of the series

4)Jayawardene (Captain)

9

9

1

414

85

51.75

516

80.23

0

4

0

29

7

He has leaded from the front, we have seen his captaincy against India and i have become a fan of him when he followed the tactics of not exposing murli and vaas to the Aussies, no matter ponting what you say regarding this move but Sri Lanka is the team that can beat the aussies hands down, ya I mean it ( they can crush the Aussies)
So he is my captain over Ponting


5)Styris

8

7

3

435

111*

108.75

538

80.85

1

4

0

38

3

He is my man of the series, batted superbly against the lankans as giri wrote. He has to be in the team.

6)Gilchrist (wk)

8

8

1

302

59*

43.14

325

92.92

0

2

0

45

2

other option could have been boucher but we need to attack at this time and gilly can attack at any time far better then any other keepers.

Bowlers

7)Bond
Pace and economy both are in him, far far better then tait

8)Murli

9) Andre Nel

5

45.2

5

186

11

5/45

16.90

4.10

24.7

0

I don't know why i choose him , but he can get you wickets very easily

10)Malinga

6

43.2

3

214

15

4/54

14.26

4.93

17.3

1

0

Got injured otherwise would have got the highest wickets.
We need aggression and he has it

11)McGrath

8

61.5

4

283

20

3/14

14.15

4.57

18.5

0

0

Living legend, no need to write more


12) Vettori
13) Pieterson

This is my team
I don't know how is it


Any changes are welcome :)

facts from cricinfo

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Cricket & The Blue Billion: Vir Sanghvi

Read this article on Sunday in HT

Click and read

Vir Sanghvi has given some views on the mindset of Indian cricket fans and some counterpoints to those who are making huge hue and cry after the Indian cricket team exit from the Cup. Read the article.

I guess this is to some extend echoes my thoughts in this post cricket fans protests & media Hooh Haah

article src: HT

Kiwis get over host's fear: World Cup Diary (2007)

Stage: Super Eight
Match: 3 (WI vs NZ)
Result: New Zealand won by 7 wickets

When Bond, Vettori n Oram took charge of NZ bowling, Styris was at his usual best while chasing.

They had the odds in their favor when NZ set to meet WI today at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua . Before the match, Lara made a point to have a good start, not losing the wickets and then toppling over the good work of top order. But the black caps had some other plans for them, as Bond n Mason started with a sensations spell between them to drag their openers into a shell. Chanderpaul failed again, a stunner from McCullum got rid of Sarwan, Samuels disappointed again (gosh! next time i m not gonna chose him for my super-selector team). Gayle was looking comfortable for his 44, but even the big man couldn't have made that cut while still cramping for room off a length ball from Oram. Oram, how could i miss him (super-selector), as the 6ft 7inches tall guy added 2 more wickets in his kitty. There was some good work from Lara n Bravo as they take some quick (or i wud say lucky) singles. But no escape from the tight line of Vettori n Bond, as the revival was followed by yet another collapse and Windies shot out for 177. Only disappointment was Franklin whose 3 overs went away for 29 runs thanks to some nice short selection from Gayle.

It never seemed to anyone for their would be any difficulty chasing down 177. But when Powell, Carribean newly found star-stricker got rid of Fulton in just the 2nd ball of the innings, it looked like Kiwis wud have to work hard for their win. Marshall (replacement for Vincent, who is out of WC because of a finger fracture during training session) became his second victim soon after. And he made way for Styris, thats my man :) (super-selector again), on top of that I made him my team's captain, as he joined Fleming and runs started coming in steadily. After Fleming departure (direct hit from Lara), Styris took his team past the asking total and ensure Kiwis their 2 pts in their race to qualify for semis.

It was another lacklusture performance from the West Indies, as they have lost their both games of this stage. They need to sit back and rethink their strategy as there is a very little realistic chance now that they will be able to make it to next round. With this win, Kiwis sit comfortably with 4 pts alongside Aussies. Both of them would also be looking forward to 4 more easy points from Bangladesh n Ireland. We have often seen New Zealanders making their way to semis but they have never got past it. Looks like with the quality of players we see in their line-up, there is a realistic chance for them to clinch the Cup for the first time in the history. They also have the psychological advantage over Aussies following their clean sweep in Chappell-Hadlee series just before the world cup.

West Indies: 177 all out (Gayle 44, Oram 3/23, Bond 3/31, Vettori 3/39)
New Zealand: 3 for 179 (Styris 80*, Fleming 45, Powell 2/39)

Image src: cricinfo
Tech Tag(s): World Cup

Proteas survived Malinga's late threat: World Cup Diary (2007)

Stage: Super Eight
Match: 2 (SL vs RSA)
Result: South Africa won by 1 wicket

Langeveldt showed variation, Kallis calmness & Malinga menace

What a match it was. The fight made by Sri Lankan bowlers in the end, even stunned once-settled proteans and gives a message that the world cup can only get better now.
Earlier, batting first after winning the toss, Pollock was being expensive again. Ntini kept it tight from the other end and was rewarded Tharanga's wicket early in the innings. Jayasuriya after his short cameo of 26 followed the suit with one untiming short off Langeveldt who mixed up his short balls, slower ones very well with his swinging action and earned a five-for. The fielding standard can't get any better as the world witnessed the replay of Jonty from Gibbs as he got Silva run-out in the same fashion as latter got Inzy in 1992. Once aiming for high score, SL was restricted to 98/5 in 25 overs. At the point Arnold joined Dilshan and they started scoring steadily as runs started coming in 1s n 2s. After Arnold falls, lankans faced a collapse as Langeveldt bowled a maiden 49th over with 3 wickets in it.

With the track appearing slow in the later half of the innings, Sri Lankans strike bowlers couldn't provide any major threat to Kallis n Smith after Vaas got de Villiers with a beauty, the one that bend back and disturbed the furniture. The next breakthrough came only in 17th over when Murli does his bit by bowling Smith a sucker bowl. For the first time, the next man Gibbs appeared comfortable as he drives, cut, sweep and kept the run flow going. But we all know Gibbs, Murli offered him a flighted one which he couldn't get past the bowler. Boucher was gone in the same minute he arrived, it seems Dhoni n Boucher are wicket-keepers in arms as he got out in the same fashion, lbw while trying a late cut. At this point, SA needed only 50 runs while SL needed 6 wickets. The match could have ended in an uneventful fashion after that. But thanks to SL bowlers and careless SA batsmen, spectators got to see something worth their money. Kallis was playing an anchor role by securing one end, before he became the third victim of Malinga's HATRICK.

44.5	Malinga to Pollock, OUT, BINGO! Finally Malinga strikes, that is a superb bit of bowling. It's a slower ball on the stumps, Pollock just does not pick it, plays inside the line of the ball and loses his leg stump. Even with the game all but gone Sri Lanka are fighting. Pollock played a good hand but now he's gone!
	SM Pollock b Malinga 13 (23m 24b 1x4 0x6) SR: 54.16
44.6	Malinga to Hall, OUT, ANOTHER! Andrew Hall goes off the very first ball! It's another speared-in yorker, Hall just about manages to dig it out, but he can't keep the ball down ... it bobs up into the air for the man at cover to pouch easily! Is there a twise left in this game
	AJ Hall c Tharanga b Malinga 0 (2m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Malinga on a hat-trick. What a funny little game this has been.

46.1	Malinga to Kallis, OUT, Would you believe it? Malinga has got the hat-trick! Full, furious, outside off stump, Kallis goes for a square-drive and nicks it behind. Loud appeal. Kallis stays rooted. Even louder appeal and Harper raises the fatal finger. SA eight down and choking real badly.
	JH Kallis c Sangakkara b Malinga 86 (187m 110b 4x4 0x6) SR: 78.18
46.2	Malinga to Ntini, OUT, And then they were one! Malinga gets four in four. Unbelievable! Screaming yorker and Ntini drives, plays all over it and ball crashes into the middle stump. Malinga is slinging down magic deliveries and SA are nine down.
	M Ntini b Malinga 0 (2m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Well, Malinga took 4 in 4 in his extraordinary spell of fast bowling, and SA were reduced to 207/9. With 2 runs needed in more than 3 overs but only 1 wicket in hand, it couldn't have gotten any better than this. Vaas n Malinga tested the last pair with the old ball doing its bit. Eventually, after surviving some close shouts, Peterson edged it pass the slip to third man boundary and SA pulled themselves off from choking.
I always say that every close finish results with a comment that the losing side were short of some 20-30 runs. It was no different today. But Malinga really tested proteas batters and Smith would be happy to get away with 2 points from this game.

Sri Lanka: 209 all out (49.3 overs) (Dilshan 58, Arnold 50, Langeveldt 5/39)
South Africa: 9 for 212 (48.2 overs) (Kallis 86, Smith 59, Malinga 4/54, Murli 3/34)


Image src: cricinfo
Tech tag(s): World Cup, hat-trick

Barmy Army kept host at bay : World Cup Diary (2007)

Stage: Super Eight
Match: 1 (Aus vs WI)
Result: Australia won by 103 runs

Hayden was the difference.

It was the first match in this world cup that spanned for more than a day. Another big thing that will go down in the history was this being the first match on this virgin pitch named after the great Viv Richards. Like every wise guy, Lara chose to field first after winning the toss. The start was disciplined. Powell got Gilchrist early and Hayden took 18 balls to get off the mark. Thereafter it was no stopping him as he showed some steady n solid shots on this hard batting track, and reached his second hundred of the tournament with a strike rate in 90s. His great knock ended on 158, riding on which, Australia posted another big total, their 4th consecutive 300+ in this WC. Ponting, Clarke and Watson chipped in with cameos and West Indies had some tough task ahead of them. Some intervening showers cut the break to 30 minutes, but the almighty had thought otherwise. The drizzle kept all of them at bay and the covers never went off. Finally when it was impossible to complete even 20 overs in the remaining time of the day, umpires were forced to let the game resume on the following day.

We all started the day expecting some big show. But Gayle force didn't obliged us, as even the biggest grunting bowler Tait bowled a disciplined line and trapped Chanderpaul lbw in his miser first spell. Bracken too deservingly got to his most economical spell as he gave only 5 runs in his first 5 overs. But it was McGrath and later on Hogg, who relished some success by taking 3 wickets apiece. Eventually they were all gone inside their 50 overs helping oz to make up for the slow over rate. With top-order not up to their best display: Gayle 2, Chanderpaul 5, Sarwan 29 & Samuels 4, the big margin (103 runs) ensured a comprehensive win for Australia. Lara 77 and Ramdin 52 were the only positive that could come out from their defeat; while the former kept holding their charge, the latter showed plenty of ability and class.

Australia: 6 for 322 (50 overs) (Hayden 158, Clarke 41, Bravo 2/49)
West Indies: 219 all out (45.3 overs) (Lara 77, Ramdin 52, McGrath 3/31, Hogg 3/10)


Image src: cricinfo
Tech tag(s): World Cup

Cricket Fans::Protests & Media:: Hooh Haah

Yesterday I couldn't watch TV in the morning since i had to get my bike serviced. Watched in the evening as saw in every news channel showing news of cricket fans disparaging the indian cricket team. Some were burning the posters carrying out mock death march, shouting slogans to axe chappel and dravid even sachin and other seniors players.

Channels were showing sms of so called ardent cricket fans in their ticker areas. They were like whole team should be axed, sachin should retire remove chappell , they keep on selling products and don't play well blah blah.

I have just two words for these so called ardent cricket fans.

Bull Shit

Here are my arguments.........

Protests!!!
What are you trying to proove by carrying out pathetic mock death march , burning effigies. You guys are not cricket fans. Because those who have played cricket and understand the game are cricket fans , they will not do like this. To me you are those guys who invested money in betting or want to come in news as our third class news channels who don't have anything else to show they will cover you and you will in prime time news.

Endorsing!!!
People were saying cricketers just do ads. You tell me one thing? We will retire at the age of 58-60 and average cricket player retire at 36-36 years. From where will he get the money to life after that. If they are getting the oportunity to earn why they shouldn't earn, will you give them the money to live after 35???? Tell
And to you all angry fans.
They shoot ads only once and what is their mistake if the company shows the ad daily and you get angry.

Shouts of axing the senior players!!!!!
Ohh you are saying axe sachin axe dravid..
Are you nuts!!!!
Who will replace these, do we have players to replace these best crickets. Where is the transition system , is it in place so that we will not go into a loop when the real time will come when these will retire.
Who is to blame ??
BCCI
Earning money and distributing it to states branches to get votes this is what BCCI does. We want some accountability from you , lets have quarterly results like funda where we will come to know where is bcci is spending the money.

Who is to blame!!!
All the news channels were carrying out the programmes "villian kaun: humko sms kijiye aur bataye kaun hai bharat ki haar ka villian"
To me its the team not a single player , why should dravid bear the burden only and axing will not solve the problem. And please stop making a hoo halla over the chappel interview after the match in which he said he is accountable to BCCI , I am not sure about this because i have not heard of this and we all know how our media twists the news :)

Giri rightly commented in my previous post never raise the expectations very high because when you fail it pains and who raised the expectations ......... media.

Solutions:: By News channels.
Today morning all the news channels were giving solutions to this problem. Times now has given its 10 point solution which consists of sacking chappell and dravid , yuvraj as captain. One solution i liked the most was
Stop Commercialization of the game ( isnt it sound funny)
(ulta chor kotwal ko daante)
Who all are commertialization the game , who want to earn more from the cricket.... Media
When cricket sells in India why should any businessmen not invest in it and try to earn the money. CNN-IBN has given the pathetic solution of installing sachin as captain , they are saying this as rumours from the inner circles of bcci.
And I have become a big big fan of Siddhu....... How good he speaks and gives examples... He was in 2 news channels yesterday one in Aap Ki Adalat and other in NDTV news channels. He raised very valid points and I have agreed to all his points and have written these above. Sorry I don't watch channel Ads Tak ohh its Aaj Tak because for obvious reasons.

Conclusion
You think only we felt the pain. Players are without any emotions. They also felt the pains, their pain was bigger then ours. RESPECT THAT PAIN ALSO

And please so called fans of Indian cricket stop giving your shittiest complaints:
I was awake late night , i wasted my weekend in watching the match
I invested so much money in going to West Indies and boooh baaaah this
In the end i get this

Shut your mouth
Who told to you to invest so much money , to not sleep in the night.................
Stop this shit...... you are not true cricket fans

Every one's heart is broken. In the poll in our blog we got 44 saying yes that India will qualify to next round compared to 17 saying no. It happens many times remember its a game.
To one thing I agree to all of you regarding the way we lost the game, we should have shown some passion/energy.

I hope the readers of this blog are true fans and not behave like immature fans of the Indian cricket.

Write your emotions !!!!!!!!

P.s I am not justifying the failure ......... they are bloody losers



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Hope......No Better Medicine

[02:32 IST] Munnaf Patel swings his bat , connects well but unfortunately finds Chaminda Vaas at the deep square leg boundary and One more world Cup dream comes to an end. World Cup about which we spent thousands of man-hours discussing the reasons why we should win it, sometimes based on cricketing merits, sometimes forming chain of coincidences. We even manipulated Nostradamus predictions in our favor. So now since we are no more in fray, off course barring Bermuda giving Sachin Tendulkar early birthday present by beating Bangladesh, the topic of discussion deviating just a little bit, why we couldn’t win the World Cup and whom to blame for this pathetic performance. Just browsing through Infosys Bulletin Board, which more often than not gives you the general trend of thinking, we can get lots of probable candidate, few on expected lines like captain Dravid, coach Chappel, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Agarkar, and nearly every player involved in last night defeat, some out of the blue thinkers blame Indira Gandhi for creating Bangladesh and few of the atheist pointed fingers even towards lord Rama for why not including Sri-Lanka in Indian territory after defeating Ravana in Ramayana.

After going through all those stuff and having digested the fact that yes we are done and dusted, I have got a very strange kind of feeling. Last night first reaction was to blame
someone, be it captain , coach or any other player, the best way to get your frustration out. Then as the morning dawns I start thinking why to blames the players, they are ones who have suffered the most, not only the thoughts of reaction back home , defeat is always painful. It creates a deep wound in our heart which keeps aching for a very long time. So then what next , whom to blame, people of India for expecting too much from our cricket team. In a country so diverse as ours, where probably only Cricket and war unites people how can we blame those poor souls who treat Cricket as a religion and cricketers as demi-Gods.

After much contemplation i conclude no need to play this blame game, then what the hell to do , where is the problem , are we born losers , who are always second handed person . are we so meek that we cant handle pressure , or probably we don’t take things in right perspective .

I don’t really know where and what really is the actual problem but for me it’s something which is the deadly mixture of all the above stuff. What’s the solution then, if any, again I don’t know, but I have learnt two thing from life “Learn to let it go of the Past” and never lose Hope as Andy Dufresne said to Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding in Shashwank Redemption :
“Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
So Forget this world Cup, and starts thinking about the next one, maybe only maybe, next time it will be our Time.

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Apologies to all readers

Sorry to all the readers of this blog. I am feeling sick. I gave you facts gave you nostradamus sayings regarding indian victory in the cup. Related lanka battle with yesterdays match. But all in vain we lost we were thrashed. It pained deep in the heart. All were saying this team is the best and has the maximum chances to win the cup....we lost batted pathetically and bowled like shit and are now out.

I am sorry about all those post, i was also the another indian cricket fan. I apologise for creating the hype

Aftemath i expect :

• 
  Chappel will fly directly to Australia.
  Dravid has become the worst captain in the cricket history of india.
  Revenue losses to india and icc.
  Set Max will loose money like anything.
  West Indies expect far lesser visitors.
  Now we will see more film stars endorsing the products endorsed by players.
  I don't know now who all will be axed .
• I expect people will now start looking towards other sports.
• The same media which made all these players gods will thrash the players.
• Dhoni I am sure the big land given to you by government will be taken back.

But in the end i see that everything that has happened is good for other sports, now other sports personalities have to rise, though if they perform good they will also be given the stature of demi gods and if cricket team win a match or two in the coming months they will be back at their place because this is india where there is no sports apart from cricket.

Sorry again to readers

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Hooo Haaaaawwwwwww :O Indiaaaa :'(

Being a whole-hearted India fan, yesterday night was very disappointing for me as was for many other fans like me. I don't want to say much about what happened yesterday because it makes me even more upset. When I browsed through the gallery at cricinfo.com today I recalled all the moments during the match, that made me happy and then left me disappointed. I would not say much and would let the pictures do the talking. All pictures I put on here focus on the Indian Cricket Team. Before we begin, I would like to say two things that come into my mind after yesterdays match :
1.) India did not deserve to go into the next round of the World Cup (something that Rahul Dravid accepts)

We did not play well in this tournament and did not deserve to go into the second round.

(Read this for what else he had to say.)

2.) I think Sachin Tendulkar should retire just as Shane Warne did at the peak of his career. I am and have been his fan since I have started watching cricket, but with all due respects to Sachin...Its Time..

Thats all I wanted to say, lets look at the pictures now.

FANS (Before)

GOOD START

AND THEN

LAST MAN STANDING

FANS (After)

And that is the end of the Innings.. :(

For all the optimistic India fans, yes right India still have a chance of going into the SUPER 8 stage if Bermuda beats Bangladesh. India's future in the tournament will be decided by other two teams because all that was in our control we let it slip through. :P

All the best INDIA. Once again HOO HAA INDIA...

Image Source : cricinfo

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Battle for Lanka

Indians will romp again over the lanka sena just like bhagwan rama did long back when he thrashed the lanka lord.

Main Army

Rama's Army

Ram == Dravid is to team India as rama was to the army . Mariyada Purshottama dravid he has to deliver today and lead from the front. Just like in the lanka battle rama aka dravid will enter the battle late when laxman and his other team mates will have done the initial damage.

Laxman = To me is ganguly as he as mixture of both agression and experience as it was in real laxman

Hanuman : to me both yuvraj and dhoni are like hanumans because they will crush the whole lanka eat their bowlers as hanuman did in ashok vatika and burn the whole lanka with their
awsome batting.

Ravana's Army

Ravana : though their team is leaded by Mahela but to India real ravana is Jayasurya, he can demolish the team India because he has got the power and all the vardans in form of batting strength.

Kumbhkarna: Murlidharan is the sleeping giant though he has not got much wickets in the initial matches but if the ravana is able to waken him up he will destroy us.

Megnadh: Sangakara , with his batting he can demolish the indian bowling , through all bowlers hay wire and then not even sanjeevani booti can save the India. Stop him initially, don't let him settle and our work is done.

Not covering the other heroes of the battle: But all have to put up a brave front

Contrary to desi post in which he said its time for prayer. No its time for battle and we can't loose the battle


And we will win !!!!! What say guys :)


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Its Prayer Time...!!!

No pre-match discussions, no predictions, no prophecies, its time to pray
Let us pray so that we don't become Sri Lankan Lion's prey;

A prayer from heart is what they say, will help the Men in Blue save,
but don't let the prayer be too strong,
as the Blue may become darker and the colour a lil wrong;

The last one for Dada, Dravid and Tendulkar,
the first one for Dhoni and Pathan,
Let all the firsts lasts and middles go on,
Not tumble upon and fly back home so torn;

Somehow I feel the prayer will succeed, as will our team,
but we are habituated to hiccups and our team to indigestion,
even if they win it will be surreal and even if they loose it will be quite away from real;

But still let come together and Pray,
as I, we and everyone from India doesn't want this to end up as a messed up fray.

Techonarati Tags: Cricket, World Cup, India, Sports, Poem

Nostradamus "India will WIN the World Cup"

Though India has to fight very hard to qualify for super 8's. All this will get cleared on friday. So to cheer all Indian cricket fans dk gave me something to cheer about


Born in the early 16th century, Nostradamus has become one of the world's most widely known and read prophets.

His poetic yet cryptic quatrains are claimed by some to conceal information about future events. He completed a total of 942 quatrains which he organized into Centuries - groups of 100 quatrains (one Century only had 42 quatrains).

A recent review of the current quatrain significantly increases the chance of India winning the world cup cricket.

The Prophecy(translated to English):
Amidst the Coconut Jungle where men fight men all but one will be slain. The one nation where religion is war will lift the holy grail.

Analysis of the Prophesy

Coconut Jungle = West Indies
men fight men = world cup cricket
all but one will be slain = only one team will survive.
one nation where religion is war = India, here war is equivalent to cricket and cricket is the religion of India.
will lift the holy grail = lift the world cup

related to this prophecy there is another prophecy which was found interesting.

The Prophecy: In the war of the holy grail the soldier who held the blade left, fought with brave and was crowned the king again.

Analysis:
soldier who held the blade left = a left hander holding the bat
fought with brave = man of the series
and was crowned the king = became the team captain
again= someone who was axed from captaincy earler. = Ganguly?


My heart want to agree to this, but my brain nose dives in the negative direction regarding predictions of great Nostradamus . Let's keep our fingers crossed and pray for India's victory on Friday so that we are in super 8's. Then there is a hope otherwise :-( .

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Painful Weekend

Last two days were not good for cricket
Pakistan tumbled India trounced not good for indian and pakistani cricket fan.
I will not like millions of frustrated cricket fans will say bad words about the indian cricketers , just play your natural game even if we loose some wickets initially why you guys go into over cautious mode, score score it will ease the pressure. Give your best in the remaining matches and move into super 8's. Out of 22 votes we got 16 polled for India 2 each for Aus and SA and 1 for other. Now i am changing the poll will india reach super 8's.


Sudden Demise of Woolmer
I am shocked how it can happen. I can't believe so much stress can lead to his death. Coaching the subcontinents team is full of stress.

Retirement of Inzy from odi's
Great player we will miss you, but you deserved a better retirement.

Other bad thing was loss of Arsenal to Everton.
Gunners will beat ManU , Liverpool and even Chelsea but why loose to these teams.

Australian F1
Ferrari was fastest Kimi finished 17 seconds ahead. Exciting season waiting Mclaren and Ferrari fight , renault lacked the pace as of last years. BMW the dark horse team. Hamilton was awesome in his debut.

Will India Win the Cup: Facts Say So

My dear friend sandy gave the following facts regarding chances of India winning the cup.

Trivia - 1

Year 1981
1. Prince Charles got married
2. Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe
3. Australia lost the Ashes
4. Pope Died
2 years later India won the world Cup!!!

Year 2005
1. Prince Charles got married
2. Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe
3. Australia lost the Ashes
4. Pope Died
2 years later will India win the world Cup?????


Trivia -2

1982 Football World Cup won by Italy
1983 Cricket World Cup won by India

2006 Football World Cup won by Italy
2007 Cricket World Cup: INDIA???

Let me add on more

Year Finalists
96 Sri Lanka
99 Pakistan
03 India
07 Bangladesh ??

These trivia don't help friends. In the last world cup there were much more like these almost guaranteeing us a victory with some 20 years facts funda.

Lets hope India perform best :)

and proves the above 2 facts correct

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Off we Go the West Indies Way...

West Indies kick started the World cup with a convincing 54 run victory over Pakistan. Surely I lost a bet yesterday as I was sure that Pakistan would win.

It was heartening to see the awesome atmosphere in the ground and it just suited the Windies team as the Home Support added to the Victory celebrations. Jamaica sizzled in all colours and it just the refreshing breath that World Cup wanted after a rather dull Champions Trophy last year.

The West Indies innings was entertaining one with Samuels and then Dwayne Smith hitting some nice blows to Pakistani Spinners. Even Lara and Sarwan chipped in.

Pakistani innings was going nicely with Inzy and Youhana playing well but when they fell and Kamran akmal too got out in the dreaded over for Pakistanis then Shoaib Malik was stranded alone.

I won't say that West Indies are the favorites but surely they are capable of huge upsets and with the Home support behind them it surely is going to be a joyride.

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