India vs Pakistan - Fingers crossed

It’s always special when the two rivals India and Pakistan meet in the battle field…I mean the cricket playground. There is no match bigger than India vs Pakistan in the cricket history especially in the world cup history as Pakistan is yet to win a match against India in any format of world cup since its launch on 1975. So India is holding this record for the past 36 years and will try hard not to lose it this time. They consider it as a dignity and a matter of esteem and at the same time Pakistan, who are said to be aggressive shockers, will come very strong to beat India this time. Obviously both the teams are very strong as of now in both batting and bowling but the fielding department looks sloppy in both the sides. We can also say it as fight between two average fielding sides but will show strong commitment in the game. I am damn sure millions of people would be watching the match irrespective of their works and the pressure is getting mounted on both the teams. Prime ministers of both the countries are set to watch the match live including lot of bollywood stars and great people all over the world. So it’s going to be mohali day and this is going to be do or die match as the one who wins this semi final match will ride to the finals and other team can enjoy the final from their home. Let’s wait for the action on Mohali on 30^th March, 2011 at 2.30PM. 

No more AUSSIES domination in Cricket

The recent defeats that the Australian cricket team have been facing inflames on everyone’s mind that ‘the Aussies era is over’ in cricket and it has been confirmed after its defeat against India and Pakistan in the world cup. The domination of Australia in cricket for more than a decade has come to an end. They were confident of lifting the world cup for the fourth time consecutively; but it went all in vain as it was thrashed by India in the quarter final match at Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel Stadium. Though Ponting is not in form, he scored an inspirational 104 under immense pressure  which confirms his spot in the Australian cricket team is safe for now but his side's glorious World Cup era is over after losing their quarter-final to India. The three-time defending champions managed to score only 260 losing 6 wickets. The Indians were largely untroubled to reply with 5-261 with 14 deliveries to spare. The start given by Sachin Tendulkar (53) and Gautam Gambhir (50) put off the pressure from Indian side for some time. But the pressure was created when wickets started falling in short interim losing Virat Kohli, Gambhir and Dhoni. But a sensible and matured game by Yuvraj and Raina put the pressure back on Australia. They took 27 runs from the 40th and 41st overs bowled by Lee and Tait which turns to be the turning point of the match. Yuvraj’s unbeaten 57 - his fourth fifty of a tournament where he is averaging over a hundred is adjudged as Man of the Match. Still Ricky Ponting refuses to believe it's the end of an era for Australian cricket. Just as he refused to believe his batting superpowers had left him, Ponting clings to the hope that Australia's period of one-day dominance remains alive.

Ireland’s SUPER HERO

The match between England and Ireland started in low profile fashion as most of the seats were found unfilled in the Bangalore's M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, but the match result pulled everyone’s attention towards it. The result ranks as one of the great world cup shocks - taking its place alongside Ireland's victory over Pakistan in 2007 and Kenya's wins against West Indies in 1996 and Sri Lanka in 2003.  It had all been going so smoothly for England earlier and Jonathan Trott becoming the equal fastest batsman to 1,000 ODI runs as they piled up their 10th highest total in the format. England managed to put awesome score of 327-8 on board with a run-a-ball 92 contribution by Trott. Pietersen and  Ian Bell also did his bit on the day, slamming 59 off 50 balls 81runs respectively. With a huge total to chase, Ireland started but lost its skipper William Porterfield in the first delivery from Anderson. However his opening partner Paul Stirling with 5 fours and a six scored 32 from 28 balls. Ireland almost went out of the game as they were buried at 111-5 with 217 more runs to win with high required rate. There come the superman of Ireland, Kevin O'Brien who scored a 50-ball century as Ireland chased down a target of 328 to upset England by three wickets at the World Cup. He launched into a furious counter-attack, going to 50 off 30 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes. Further he took just another 20 deliveries to complete the sixth quickest hundred in ODIs. Finally he blasted 113 off 63 deliveries, including 13 fours and 6 sixes, and shared a 162-run stand in 17 overs with Alex Cusack (47) which paved way for a history victory. It is the highest run chase of this format in World cup. To lose against a team like Ireland, who played really well towards the end of their batting innings, was very unexpected but a good wake-up call for the England team.

HAT-TRICK HISTORY by MALINGA

SriLankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga, known to be the demolition man of Cricket became the first bowler to claim two World Cup hat-tricks. He finished with a career best 6-38 against Kenya yesterday as Kenya were bundled out for 142. Collins Obuya scored 52 and his brother David 51, but none of their Kenya team-mates reached double figures. He trapped Tanmay Mishra lbw with the last ball of his seventh over. At the start of his next, he bowled Peter Ongondo and Shem Ngoche in successive balls to complete his hat-trick. In return Sri Lanka reached 146-1 to claim victory in Colombo in just 18.4 over. 

 

Four years back, Malinga took four wickets in a row against South Africa at the 2007 World Cup.  For the first time in World Cup history, two hat-tricks have been recorded on successive days - Kemar Roach for Windies against Netherlands on February 28 and Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka against Kenya on March 1, 2011.  Lasith Malinga's hat-trick against Kenya is the seventh hat-trick in the World Cup.