Chennai Super Kings tastes blood in inaugural match against KKR

IT COULD not have been a better start for the Indian Premier League with the world cup winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni scaling new heights for his team Chennai Super Kings. The last ball delivery by Tim Southee enabled the IPL season 3 winner's Chennai Super Kings to taste blood.

In the inaugural match between defending champion Chennai Super Kings and the newly formed Kolkata Knight Rider led by Gautam Gambhir, all the cricketing drama was witnessed. From one point where it was considered that Chennai Super Kings are going to face a definite loss from the hands of KKR, MS Dhoni kept the ray of hope alive with a brilliant run out of Yusuf Pathan followed by Jacques Kallis.

KKR who once looked on top till first three quarters of second inning ended up on the losing side after the last 5 overs. 154 runs in 20 overs was not that a tough call for KKR, as players like Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis and their very own captain, Gautam Gambhir who is known for some big hitting and making target set for them a small one.

Match lived up to the hype created by media and fans on social networking website as it ended on the nail biting last bowl of the match, a perfect way to inaugurate the tournament. The action has just begun and we hope to see harder hitting and nail biting matches in the fourth edition of IPL.

IPL 4 to kickstart today, hopes high on new entrants

AFTER WINNING the world cup and making the country go crazy its time for IPL to send the excitement in air and we are just few hours away to see the epic encounters of the league. It will be a tough call for the fans to cheer for the players who once played for the country but are now disseminated across participating teams.

Such questions were also asked before the commencement of the IPL in 2008, but we all got our answers as we saw that regionalism was very much on the fans sides than any particular player, it was obvious that they will cheering for their team than any particular player. But throughout the last three seasons of IPL; fans have their own favorite players list in their favorite franchise teams; like Muttiah Muralitharan, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin from CSK or Gautam Gambhir, V Sehwag from Delhi Daredevils.

Now as we know that players have been shuffled between the various teams like Gautam Gambhir who was born in Delhi and was former team member of Delhi Daredevils is no longer the part the team this season, this time he is the Captain of Kolkata Knight Riders. Now the question is will the fans that was cheering for him last three seasons of IPL as he was a part of Delhi Daredevils; be cheering for him knowing that he is no longer a part of their favourite teams.

Same with Mutthiah Muralitharan, as he was playing for Chennai Super Kings for last three seasons and said to be very integral part of CSK team planning. He will be playing for Kochi Tuskers this season. How the fans of CSK, who once loved him are going to react when he will be playing against their very own team remains to be seen.

Lots of answers will come and lot of drama are just few hours away as we are going to witness another epic cricket tournament in India after World cup 2011.

Kamran Akmal dropped from upcoming West Indies tour

AFTER DROPPING some crucial catches in the world Cup 2011 and letting Pakistan face one of its worst defeats, Pakistani wicket keeper Kamran Akmal was dropped from the upcoming Pakistan's tour of West Indies in the T20 and ODI format.

Ross Taylor whose catch was dropped by Akmal in the league match of World Cup 2011 twice had given Shoiab Akhtar and Abdul Razzaq thrashing of life time, where they were hit 30 plus runs in an over at the end of the inning. From that moment the match from Pakistan’s side flew to New Zealand's corner, resulting in one of the worst losses for Pakistan.

Kamran Akmal was under the scrutiny by the selectors throughout the entire world cup matches, where he was in news for some sloppy catches dropped by him and irresponsible wicket keeping.

Sloppy work with gloves has given his critics license to kill and they didn’t miss any opportunity as they took the privilege to axe him from the upcoming series against West Indies.

Akmal is not the only person who was shown the door from the squad. Fellow mate Abdul Razzaq was also dropped from the squad where as senior players like Umar Gul and Younis Khan have been rested. Shahid Afridi will continue as the captain and team will feature new wicketkeeper, Mohammad Salman.

Squad for the test team is yet to be announced and it is expected that Umar Gul and Younis Khan will make their come back in the squad for test team.

The tour will start off with a warm-up game from April 18, while the only Twenty20 will be played on April 21 in St Lucia. The five-match ODI series will begin on April 23, and the Test series is scheduled to commence from May 12.

Squad: Shahid Afridi (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Taufeeq Umar, Usman Salahuddin, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Tanvir Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Hammad Azam, Aizaz Cheema and Mohammad Salman (wk).

World cup 2011: Not an anticipated goodbye from England

ONE TEAM, which has always been in the news throughout the entire world cup, whether it’s their fighting spirit against India chasing a massive 338 runs or their loss against two minnows of the group co-host Bangladesh and unpredictable Ireland, England has managed to grab eyeballs whether they won or lost a match.

 

Whatever they did - win or lose- they did it in style.

 

The manner in which England won against favourites South Africa by a close margin showed why one-day cricket still has a long way to go and can offer a lot to cricket fans. The close matches and time available for the teams and players to decide the strategy is unlike the Twenty-Twenty cricket, where once the flow is decided nothing much can change.

 

In the quarterfinals, however, England met their match and they were defeated by 10 wickets.

 

Sri Lanka, any day, at home, was a better team compared to England but it was expected that England will give the opposition a run for their money.  But the English team really looked tired and jaded and perhaps it was time for the boys to go home to the cool environs of the British islands.

 

On a slow Colombo track, England managed just 229 runs in their quota of 50 overs, a task which was not going to be tough for the in-form Sri Lankan openers.

 

The hosts chased the target with 10 wickets in hand, dishing out a thumping defeat to the English team.

 

Although England played quite well in the league stage but it seems that the team ran out of ammunition to test tough opponents and make it to the final of the world cup.

 

Also, one must not forget that the English team came into the World Cup after an extremely competitive showing Down Under where after a tough test series they defeated the Aussies after many years. At the same time, the English started losing momentum soon after the test win. In the one-day series they lost heavily to the Aussies.

World Cup 2011 registers record viewership of 162 million

NAIL-BITING matches in the league stage, and now some come-from-behind performances by teams at crucial stages in the quarter finals has led the World Cup 2011 to reach the highest viewership in the history of cricketing tournament.

According to the data released by a television audience measurement agency, the initial 40 matches has recorded viewership of 162 million viewers, which is a lot higher than the combined viewership that was recorded for IPL 3 in 2010.

 

As per data, IPL 3 in 2010 generated 143.6 million viewers in total. Whereas, in World Cup 2011 the first 40 matches drew 161.9 million viewers. The data has been recorded for cable and satellite homes for viewers aged above four in urban and semi-urban centres.

Compared to the last ICC World cup 2007 played in West Indies, the number of viewers for the first 40 matches was only 109.5 million viewers; whereas this year in its first 40 matches the number stood at 161.9 million - thus registering a growth of 48 per cent when compared with that of the 2007 World Cup.

Aloke Malik, managing director, ESPN Software India added that they have leveraged the broadcast, digital and mobile platforms to screen the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. The response has been good and they also expect the traction to build as the tournament progresses.

Can Sri Lanka defeat England today to recreate the 1996 magic?

AFTER TWO big names and top contenders of World Cup 2011 viz Australia and South Africa were sent back from the tournament in two consecutive days, it's time to find out who is going to be the fourth team to qualify for semifinals. Is it going to be everyone’s favorite Sri Lanka or England, which is yet to show its reall mettle in the world cup 2011.

In the fourth quarterfinals at the R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo, one-time champion Sri Lanka will take on England, who till date has never won the coveted cup. Going by past records, Sri Lanka's performances in the league matches have been outstanding, which was followed by Australia and New Zealand.

England, on the other hand, has received much press and attention related to issues such as injuries, and a player opting out of the tournament due to depression.

Although they have played some exceptional cricket, losing to Bangladesh and Ireland was a dark patch for them in the tournament but their fight against India was truly commendable. Their win over South Africa was a stunner as at one time the Porteas were the clear favourites to win the match. With this fighting spirit England managed to make their way to quarter finals.

Fifteen years back in the same month of 1996, it was Sri Lanka against England in the quarter finals. In the match, not only did Sri Lanka defeat England but also ended up taking home the coveted trophy.

Now, at what is being looked at as another 1996 kind of encounter, the larger part of the responsibility falls on English shoulders if they want to avenge the 1996 loss.

Pakistan crushes West Indies in World Cup quarterfinal

IN THE first quarterfinal of World Cup 2011, Pakistan has stunned West Indies with a brilliant performance by their bowlers and making an official announcement of their arrival to Mohali, Chandigarh on March 30, 2011, to face the winner of 2nd quarter final. It will be either India or Australia, who will face the mighty challenge? We are just hours away to get the answers.

 

Electing to bat after winning the toss West Indies was taken aback by some ruthless bowling performance by Pakistan. Except winning the toss and hitting a boundary on the very first ball of the match nothing went right for them. Pakistan spinners made West Indian batsmen to give up their fight against them and was bowled out for 112 runs only.

 

Shahid Afridi continued his magnificent performance in the world cup picking up four West Indian wickets for 30 runs; after some early blows by Mohammad Hafeez Ahmad and very well supported by Saeed Ajmal. Three of them gave tremendous performance by taking eight wickets in common from 27.3 overs giving away only 64 runs. Shivnarain Chandrapaul was the top scorer for them scoring 44 not out, only three batsmen for West Indies managed to reach double figure.

 

Chasing 113 runs in 50 over with 2.26 runs per over was never a tough call for Pakistan though they have given some bad batting performance in the tournament, especially in the match against New Zealand. Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez effortlessly reached the total of 113 runs in the 21st over and made it official that they are coming to India.

 

Mohammad Hafeez did the job for Pakistan with bat also; where he scored 61 runs of 64 balls after taking two wickets in 10 overs with mere 1.6 runs per over in the first innings making him win the award for the ‘man of the match’.