Blog / News ― MetaCricket

Sri Lankan bowling attack pedestrian says Wessels

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:27:46 -0500

Boycott Bashing - says England expected to beat India

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:27:51 -0400

Dhoni press conference on defeat after 2nd test against England

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:12:17 -0400

Reply from a Sachin fan

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 06:21:05 -0400

Reply from a Sachin fan

Sachin is God that is my stand

Say whatever u want, i dont give a damn

Made his debut at 16 started real quick

Waqar said he could play the leg glance with a stick

Hayden saw God batting at number four

He made each and every bowler look sore

Don told his wife "he bats just like me"

Qadir said "he is gonna be a master ohh that i see"

Sunny took his hat off with a humble bow

When Donald was getting whacked Kirsten said wow!!!

Warne said he had nightmares Sachin dancing down the track

Be it McGrath,Lee or Gillispie he gave them all a good whack!

Sobers said he is precious preserve him in cotton wool

He took spinners to the cleaners like a raging bull

Federer is in awe of him so is Mr.Potter

For bowlers round the world its been 20 years of slaughter

I see every match of His without a single miss

And thank Him for the million moments of bliss.

- This poetry has been sent to us by one of our subscribers - Pushkar Kastoori.

Pushkar is an ardent cricket lover and a huge Sachin Tendulkar fan. Connect with Pushkar on Facebook

Duncan Fletcher speaks on the side he used to coach before

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:04:55 -0400

Dhoni press conference on the upcoming England tour

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 23:39:59 -0400

The men who changed the face of Indian Cricket

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:25:06 -0400

The men who changed the face of Indian Cricket

The Indian team won the cricket world cup 2011. But actually speaking, it did not come as a big surprise to anyone. The Indian team was the hot favorites to win this Quadrennial event. But Indian cricket was not as rosy as we find it now. It took years to come to a time where Indian cricketers are considered one of the fiercest competitors.

There were some cricketers who contributed hugely in their own ways to raise the level of Indian cricket at some point of time or other.

In this article, we have tried to pick up those cricketers who have made such big contributions and put in a few words about each of them. The listing is done in chronological order.

K.S.Ranjitsinhji (The batsman who first showed that an Indian can play competitive cricket very well and after whom Ranji trophy has been named):

Ranjitsinhji was an Indian King and Test cricketer who played for the English cricket team. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University, and county cricket for Sussex. Ranji is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Neville Cardus describing him as "the Midsummer night's dream of cricket". Unorthodox in technique and with fast reactions, he brought a new style to batting and revolutionized the game. Previously batsmen generally pushed forward; Ranji took advantage of the improving pitches of the time and relied on a back and across defensive stroke and played elegant strokes off the back foot in attack. He had a strong late cut and is noted for his popularization or invention of the leg glance. He scored 989 runs in 15 test matches @ 44.95 with 2 hundreds and 6 fifties. His top score being 175.

• Colonel C.K. Nayudu (Lead the Indian team for its first ever test match and series ):

An outstanding solid batsman, Nayudu fondly known as CK was known for his ability as a hard hitter of the ball. He was the first cricketer to be honored with the Padma Bhushan.

India made its debut at Lord's under Col C K Nayudu. In its first Test tour of England with the Maharaja of Porbandar as captain and Ghanshyamsinhji of Limbdi as vice-captain. Two weeks before the trip, Porbandar dropped out on reasons of health and Limbi took over. It was just before the start of India's inaugural Test; Nayudu was appointed captain of the Indian team as Limbdi suffered a back injury that ruled him out of the Test. He scored 350 runs in 7 test matches @ 25.00 and took 9 wickets.

• Vijay Hazare (Lead India to its first Test win):

Hazare was an Indian cricket player from the state of Maharashtra. He captained the Indian cricket team in 14 matches between 1951 and 1953. In India's 25th Test match, nearly 20 years after India achieved Test status, he led India to her first ever Test win (and the only victory under his captaincy) in 1951-52 against England at Madras, winning by an innings and eight runs in a match that began on the day that King George VI died.

Hazare's Test record is very respectable: he amassed 2,192 runs in 30 Test matches with a batting average of 47.65.

He took 20 test wickets and Donald Bradman's wicket three times.

First Indian to score a century in each innings of a Test match (116 and 145 on successive days against the Australian cricket team in Adelaide in 1947-48, which was the same team that became known as The Invincibles ).

He also became the first Indian player to score a century in three successive Test matches.

First Indian player to complete 1000 Test Runs.

• Ajit Wadekar (The first captain to win overseas test series):

He became captain of Mumbai, and became Indian captain in 1971, leading a side that included Sunil Gavaskar, M. L. Jaisimha, Gundappa Viswanath, Abid Ali, Farokh Engineer, and the Indian spin quartet (Bishen Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan). He was immediately successful, becoming the first Indian captain to achieve series victories on tours to the West Indies and in England, winning both tours 1-0 in 1971. His team won over 5 matches in the West Indies in early 1971, and then beat England over 3 matches. He led India to a third successive series victory, beating England cricket team 2-1 again in a 5-match series in 1972-3. He scored 2113 runs in 37 test matches @ 31.07 with 1 century.

• Eknath Solkar (The man who underlined the importance of fielding):

Solkar was renowned for his excellent close fielding, and his catches helped India to victory against England at The Oval in 1971, the team's first Test win in England. His 53 catches in only 27 matches is the best ratio of any non keeper with 20 or more Tests. He is responsible for one of cricket's most celebrated quotes, directed at Geoffrey Boycott: "I will out you bloody."

• The spin Quartrets ( Bishen Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan ):

Between them, they played 231 Test matches taking 853 wickets. They were one of the most deadly combinations in world cricket; especially on the dusty sub continental pitches. The spin quartet was instrumental in producing many Indian Test victories. However, the four hardly played together in the same match - in fact, there was only one match in which all four of them were in the Starting XI. Due to team restrictions, often either Prasanna or Venkataraghavan were left out in order to accommodate the others. However, these four men contributed greatly for some of India's greatest triumphs, including Test series victories in the West Indies and England, as well as Test victories in Australia and New Zealand. In 2004, the Board of Control for Cricket in India conferred on them the CK Nayudu award, named after India's first Test captain.

• Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (India's first batsman who showed the world how to play fast bowlers):

Before the era of Sunil Gavaskar, Indians were thought to be a team who couldn't play fast bowlers comfortably. He was regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in test match history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most runs and most centuries scored by any batsman. He held the record of 34 Test centuries for almost two decades before it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar in December 2005. Gavaskar was widely admired for his technique against fast bowling, with a particularly high average of 65.45 against the West Indies, who possessed a four-pronged fast bowling attack regarded as the most vicious in Test history.

He was the first batsman in test history to amass 10,000 runs. Also he held the record of scoring 34 centuries for a long time. He was also the scorer of the highest individual runs of 236* before it was broken by VVS Laxman.

• Kapil Dev (First genuine quick and aggressive bowler for India):

If on one hand Indians were thought to be lousy players of fast bowling, the second talk in the town was that India didn't have a genuine quick bowler who can also show aggression if required. But when this man called Kapil Dev joined the Indian ranks, these talks became history as he could bowl fast, swing the ball, make the batsman hurry, make them duck and show some aggression on the field. This aggression seemed to rub on the others in the field as well. This man with his attitude led India to their first world cup victory in 1983. As a batsman, he was a natural striker of the ball who could hook and drive effectively. He is the only player in the history of cricket to have taken more than 400 wickets and scored more than 5,000 runs in test cricket, making him one of the greatest all-rounders to have played the game.

• Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (The best batsman in the modern world, the man who taught the word aggression while batting):

Sachin Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket.

He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket. In 2002, just 12 years into his career, Wisden ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. In September 2007, the Australian leg spinner Shane Warne rated Tendulkar as the greatest player he has played with or against.

Tendulkar was an integral part of the 2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team at the later part of his career, his first such win in six World Cup appearances with India.

Tendulkar is the first and the only player in Test Cricket history to score fifty centuries, and the first to score fifty centuries in all international cricket combined; he now has 99 centuries in international cricket. On 17 October 2008, when he surpassed Brian Lara's record for the most runs scored in Test cricket, he also became the first batsman to score 12,000, 13,000 and 14,000 runs in that form of the game, having also been the third batsman and first Indian to pass 11,000 runs in Test cricket. He was also the first player to score 10,000 runs in one-day internationals, and also the first player to cross every subsequent 1000-run mark that has been crossed in ODI cricket history and 200 runs in a one-day international match.

In the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, Tendulkar surpassed Australia's Allan Border to become the player to cross the 50-run mark the most number of times in Test cricket history, and also the second ever player to score 11 Test centuries against Australia, tying with Sir Jack Hobbs of England more than 70 years previously. Tendulkar passed 30,000 runs in international cricket on 20 November 2009. He also holds the world record for playing highest number of Test and ODI matches.

Tendulkar has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan award, India's second highest civilian award, and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honor.

• Sourav Ganguly (Became the first captain of India who believed in looking eye to eye with the opposition, the one who actually culminated the present Indian side):

This was the rise of a new team India under the aggressive captaincy of Sourav Ganguly. He was a captain of different mould. Previous captains would always have a thing or two to say about being aggressive, but this man let his aggression flow. Under him, the new team would not keep quiet when sledged, but would give back a thing or two to the opposition. The team learned of a new fighting spirit, which was absent in the previous teams. This team could snatch a win even from the face of defeat. The best examples can be the famous 2001 test against Australia, where VVS Laxman made a 281 to help India win after following on. Also, the win against England in the Natwest final chasing 325 was something of a phoenix.

The scene of the Bengal tiger waving his shirt in the air marked the rise of a new look Indian team. He scored 7212 runs in test and 11363 in ODIs with 16 tests and 22 ODI hundreds. He is India's one of the most successful Test Captain to date, winning 21 out of 49 test matches. An aggressive Captain, Ganguly is credited with having nurtured the careers of many young players who played under him.

• Virender Sehwag (Took batting to another level with a fearless approach and one of the most destructive batsmen of modern cricket):

Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler. He played his first One Day International in 1999 and joined the Indian Test cricket team in 2001. In April 2009, Sehwag became the only Indian to be honored as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for his performance in 2008, subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009. Sehwag holds multiple records including the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket (319), which was also the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) as well as the fastest 250 by any batsman (in 207 balls against Sri Lanka on 3 December 2009 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai). Sehwag also holds the distinction of being one of four batsmen in the world to have ever surpassed 300 twice in Test cricket, and the only one to score two triple centuries and take a five-wicket innings haul. In March 2009, Sehwag smashed the fastest century ever scored by an Indian in ODI cricket, from 60 balls.

This aggressive approach from Sehwag has help India win many test matches which otherwise would have ended in a draw.

He has scored 7694 runs with 22 centuries in tests and 7760 runs with 14 centuries in ODIs.

• Mahender Singh Dhoni (Considered to be the best captain to lead the Indian side, often regarded as "captain cool"):

After MSD took over the captaincy from Dravid, speculations were on the rise whether this young player from Ranchi will do any justice to this prestigious post. But he proved all critics wrong, and what a way to do that!! Winning two World cups for India.

Initially recognized as an extravagantly flamboyant and destructive batsman, Dhoni has come to be regarded as one of the coolest heads to captain the Indian ODI side. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, CB Series of 2007–08, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008 and 2010 against Australia 2–0 and 2011 Cricket World Cup in which India beat Sri Lanka.

His Test, ODI record is best among all the Indian captains to date. He also captained Chennai Super Kings to victory in the recent IPL 2010 and in the Champions League. He is now captain of India in all three forms of the game and also led the team to their first ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Under Dhoni's captaincy India became the first team after a gap of more than 20 Years to whitewash Australia in a Test series. Dhoni also led the Indian team to the number one position in ICC rankings in Test cricket for the first time.

Dhoni has also been the recipient of many awards including the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 (the first Indian player to achieve this feat), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour in 2009.

Dhoni was named as captain of Wisden's first-ever Dream Test XI Team in 2009 and has topped the list of world's top 10 earning cricketers compiled by Forbes. He was named as the captain of ICC World Test and ICC ODI teams for 2009. In the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, he hit 91 not out of just 79 balls to lead India to victory. For his outstanding batting in the final, he was awarded as the man of the match. The TIME magazine added him in its "Time 100" list of 100 most influential people of 2011.

He till date has scored 2925 runs with 4 centuries in tests and 5958 runs with 7 centuries in ODIs.

Your Ad Here

Please Note - The content of this article is sole viewpoint of the author.

This article is written by Saurabh Banerjee for MetaCricket - Find Saurabh on Facebook

Indian Premier League 2011 kick starts

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 07:45:57 -0400

The much awaited 2011 edition of Indian Premier League kick started with the expected jubilance in Chennai on 8th April 2011. After India's world cup triumph, the tournament is expected to render some big bucks to the already cash rich BCCI.

The tournament promises to be interesting also because of the fact that players like Yuvraj, Yusuf, Gambhir and foreign players like Gilchrist, Symonds have been bought by other teams so we are to expect some loyalty shifts.

Two teams Pune Warriors, a Sahara owned franchise and Kerala's Kochi tuskers are making their debuts in the 4th IPL edition.

Following are the squads for Indian Premier League 2011 -

Kolkata Knight Riders – Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Brett Lee, Shakib al Hasan, Ryan Ten Doeschate, James Pattinson, Brad Haddin, Gautam Gambir, Yusuf Pathan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Manoj Tiwary, Jaydev Unadkat, Iqbal Abdullah, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Shami Ahmed, Shreevats Goswami, Pradeep Sangwan, Sarabjit Ladda, Manvinder Bisla, Rajat Bhatia

Chennai Super Kings - Mahendra Singh, Dhoni, Dhoni, Mahi, MSD, MS Dhon, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Albie Morkel, R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Doug Bollinger , Michael Hussey, Sudeep Tyagi, Dwayne Bravo, Scott Styris, Joginder Sharma, Faf du Plessis, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ben Hilfenhaus, Wriddhiman Saha, Suraj Randiv, George Bailey, Suraj Randiv

Deccan Chargers – Shikhar Dhawan, D Ravi Teja, Ishank Jaggi, Bharat Chipli, Chris Lynn, Michael Lumb, Sunny Sohal Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Manpreet Gony, Dale Steyn, Juan Theron, Harmeet Singh, Akash Bhandari, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White, Aashish Reddy, Daniel Christian, JP Duminy, Kumar Sangakkara, Kedar Devdhar

Delhi Daredevils - Virender Sehwag, Morne Morkel, Irfan Pathan, Ashok Dinda, Travis Birt, Colin Ingram, Robert Frylinck, Roelof van der Merwe, Matthew Wade, Andrew McDonald, Ajit Agarkar, Venugopal Rao, Umesh Yadav, Aaron Finch, Naman Ojha, Vikas Mishra, James Hopes, David Warner, Unmukt Chand, Robin Bist, Varun Raymond Aaron, Aavishkar Madhav Salvi, Rajesh Vithal Pawar, Sridharan Sriram, Yogesh Nagar, Vivek Yadav, Ajit Chandila

Rajasthan Royals - Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Ross Taylor, Paul Collingwood, Johan Botha, Rahul Dravid, Pankaj Singh, Siddharth Trivedi, Faiz Fazal, Abhishek Raut, Amit Paunikar, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Deepak Chahar, Dishant Yagnik, Aakash Chopra, Ashok Menaria, Samad Fallah, Nayan Doshi

Mumbai Indians - Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Rohit Sharma, Abu Nechim, Aditya Tare, Ali Murtuza, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pawan Suyal, Rajagopal Satish, S K Yadav, Sarul Kanwar, T Suman, Yuzvendra Chahal, Aiden Blizzard, Andrew Symonds, David Jacobs, Dilhara Fernando, James Franklin, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Moises Henriques

Kings XI Punjab - Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Ryan Harris, Nathan Rimmington, Dmitri Mascarenhas, Stuart Broad, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Abhishek Nayar, Paras Dogra, Sunny Singh, Nitin Saini, Bipul Sharma

Royal Challengers Bangalore - AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Nuwan Pradeep, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Charl Langeveldt, Abhimanyu Mithun, Dirk Nannes Luke, Pomersbach, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rilee Rossouw, Saurabh Tiwary, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, Daniel Vettori

Kochi Tuskers Kerala - S Sree Santh, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jhadav, VVS Laxman, Ramesh Powar, Tanmay Srivastava, R P Singh, Vinay Kumar, Deepak Choughule, Raiphi Gomez, Sushant Marathe, Parthiv Patel, Mahela Jayawardene, Brad Hodge, John Hastings, Brendon Mccullum, Thisara Pierara, Owais Shah, Steven Smith, Steve O Keefe, Muthiah Muralitharan, Michael Klinger

Sahara Pune Warriors - Manish Pandey, Dheeraj Jadhav, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Callum Ferguson, Eklavya Dwivedi, Harshad Khadiwale, Mitchell Marsh, Graeme Smith, Mohnish Mishra, Harpreet Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Angelo Mathews, Jesse Ryder, Alfonso Thomas, Shrikant Wagh, Rahul Sharma, Mithun Manhas, Ganesh Gaikwad, Shrikant Mundhe, Tim Paine, Robin Uthappa, Ashish Nehra, Murali Kartik, Jerome Taylor, Wayne Parnell, Nathan McCullum, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Kamran Khan, Sachin Rana

Michael Hussey to join Aussie squad

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:59:16 -0500

So official it is. Australian middle order back bone Michael Hussey is all set to come to the subcontinent to join his team as they play for their 4th consecutive WC title.
The Left hander was not included in the Aussie side because of his hamstring injury and was replaced by Callum Ferguson. Hussey's opportunity arose when Doug Bollinger was injured in the warm up matched in India.
Hussey was informed of his selection during the tea break of the Sheffield Shield match between Western Australia and Queensland at the WACA on Sunday.

Although Hussey could not score much in both innings against Queensland, but his return to Aussie squad will only strengthen their side who already have begun their WC campaign yet to lose a match.

India England tie adds spice to World Cup

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:30:15 -0500

One of the fascinating encounters of the World Cup 2011. India Vs England.

One of the interesting matches on Super weekend in World Cup 2011 India Vs England.

Amid all controversies Pakistan won the match against one of the WC favorites Sri Lanka on Saturday. This match set the tone for another exciting encounter of WC which has been otherwise sort of non-exciting to start with. India Vs England who played the first match of WC history way back in 1975 met today at Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. In recent history between these two teams India had been clearly the better side. India had won 11 out of last 12 matches off late. India was the clear favorites of the experts and fans.

Indian captain certainly did something to change his luck for winning more tosses. It was a crucial toss to win and bat first. All set for Indian batsmen to pile up a huge total on a flat Bangalore strip. Though Sehwag missed out on the chances he got in first over. Sachin as the master he is played wonderfully well to get his 5^th ton in World cups and clinched one more record to become the highest century maker in World cups. Sachin paced his innings artistically and laid the foundation for a big Indian total along with Gambhir and Yuvraj. Sachin hit 5 sixes which was a pleasant sight. It was heartening to see Yuvraj back among runs as this is good signs for Indian team and ominous one for opponents. Gambhir played a good support role and kept the momentum going when Sachin was bit slow. Gambhir fell and Yuvraj then with Sachin carried Indian innings well. India took batting power play and failed to gain from it and lost Sachin. Yuvraj reached his 50 and then fell. Dhoni also played a decent knock of 33 and took India past 300. India ideally should have extracted more out of their power play overs but they managed only 32 with the loss of the master blaster. India did well to score around 100 runs in last ten and surprisingly plunged to be all out at the score of 338. It looked a formidable score and would require a huge batting performance from the Englishmen.

English men started with positive intent Peterson and Strauss a reached to 80 in just 11 overs. It took a good reflex catch by the bowler Munaf while bowling to send back KP to pavilion. He looked in tremendous hitting form and set the platform for English run chase. Andrew Strauss is not hailed as a great ODI batsman, but he started to prove everybody wrong and played some crafty shots. He was at ease while playing his shots against Indian bowlers. After loss of Trot, Bell and Strauss piled on runs easily and without any difficulty took England past 200. Indian bowlers were looking clueless against this batting pair. Strauss certainly played innings of his life which was a chanceless innings and Bell gave him a good company. It must have raised the confidence of English team against the spinners. When Indian chances looked bleak Dhoni brought Zak and got the wicket of tired looking Bell and then bowled a superb Yorker to get rid of the danger man Strauss. Match turned on its head and suddenly India looked to be getting home until the second last over. Zak and Harbhajan completed their quota of overs and Chawla came back and conceded 2 sixes to make the game a nail biting finisher. India was banking on Munaf to take them to victory as England needed 14 runs to win in the last over. Munaf lacked pace to trouble even the tail enders Swann and Shehzad and was hit for a six, England now needed 5 out of three. England managed 4 out of last three balls and this fascinating encounter came to an end with both teams tied at the score of 338. This bowling performance should ring some bells in Indian think camp and bowlers need to improve their performance considerably if they are entertaining any thoughts of winning the cup. On the other hand England also gave away victory after coming agonizingly close to it. This match definitely lived up to its expectation and has certainly raised interest in the WC as the teams are warming up for some big clashes. South Africa is the team which also benefited from this tie as they now have a very good chance of winning the pool and taking on relatively weaker team in Quarter finals. In the end all I can say is: Indian batsmen earned 1 point and Indian bowlers and fielders gave away 1.

Injured Bowlinger to return to Australia

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:10:23 -0500

Australia's grievances have exacerbated with the news that Doug Bollinger is to be sent home from the World Cup due to an ankle injury. The Australians came to India already without Hussey, Hauritz, Ryan Harris, McKay, Doherty and S Marsh due to injuries, but Bollinger is the team member to be flown home in the middle of the tournament. Bollinger suffered pain in his left ankle while playing the first warm-up game against India and although the pain alleviated and he was available for Monday's match against Zimbabwe, the problem exaggerated when the team reached in Nagpur. Peter Siddle would be the rational subtitute for Bollinger, but the selectors have not yet decided on that. The ICC has also established that withdrawn players can return to swap other injured members, meaning the door has been opened for Michael Hussey to make a possible surge to the World Cup. However, the Australians would most likely prefer a backup fast bowler to substitute Bollinger, with John Hastings the only reserve fast bowler in the touring party.

India gears on to take revenge on Bangladesh in the inaugural clash of the World Cup 2011

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 00:00:38 -0500

INDIA vs BANGLADESH

MIRPUR: It's not about having the best team or about revenge. When India and Bangladesh square off on Saturday at the Shere-e-Bangla National Stadium here, it will all be about hanging in there in the moment when it matters.

There is so much buildup adjoining the inaugural match of the 2011 World Cup that even a cool campaigner like Mahendra Singh Dhoni is feeling the heat, while the Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan is spooling under it. While Dhoni tried to ward off pressure by playing to the gallery at Friday's match-eve press conference, Shakib literally sweated it out even as he answered some not so comfortable questions, including some on the injured Mashrafe Mortaza.

Shakib, maintained that the team would miss him as he is an experienced allrounder, He was the Man of the Match on the last two encounters when Bangladesh beat India, but Shakib expects others to do the job now. Dhoni, on the other hand, simply joked - that "being out of the squad means Mortaza wouldn't be able to pick up the award this time."

It was clearly Dhoni's way of dealing with the pressures of World Cup that his team is hotly tipped to win. The match-up against Bangladesh signifies the first obstacle in the exciting tournament.

History counts for little in today’s cricket, and the loss to Bangladesh in the 2007 World Cup has been eclipsed by the current form of players whom Dhoni has stirred up into world-winners. It's salvation, rather than vengeance, that India would be seeking through a winning start on Saturday. To expect Bangladesh to do it yet again against India will be just too much to expect from Shakib's youthful side which clearly lacks depth.

Technically seeing, Bangladesh is too much dependent on their left-handed opener Tamim Iqbal to post a good total, while their bowling attack lacks both variety as well as depth. Their two pacers - Shaiful Islam and Rubel Hossain - are both right-arm operators, while their three frontline spinners Shakib, Razzak and Sohrawordi Suvho are all of left-armers.

Unless they make early breakthroughs and keep picking wickets at regular intervals, it is hard to see them stopping the otherwise mighty Indian line-up that boasts the likes of Sachin, Sehwag, Virat, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Raina, Dhoni, and Yusuf.

It is good for any captain to have choices, but Dhoni has to now make up his mind about Yuvraj Singh. Picked on his status as a match-winning batsman, Yuvi continues to struggle with the bat but has emerged as a frontline spinner, who regularly bowls his full quota of overs.

The first XI picks itself with Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir and Kohli taking up the top four slots and Yuvraj, Dhoni and Pathan coming in next, followed by Harbhajan, Zaheer, Chawla and Munaf.

Nehra could be replaced by Munaf to the second pacer's berth. But Dhoni must be comforted to see Zaheer back in the bowling nets here after missing the warm-up games.

Yuvi's new-found poise in bowling gives Dhoni an opportunity to include a frontline batsman instead of Pathan, whose hard-hitting skills may not be needed against Bangladesh. Dhoni has also not used Pathan's off-spin much in the two warm-up matches against Australia and New Zealand. Raina could be a direct recipient as he is a good player of spin and would relish batting against the left-arm tweakers of Bangladesh.

The plain, brown pitch will have nothing to offer to the fast bowlers. It is expected to play low and slow which means taking the pace off the ball would pay for the spinners, while batsmen need to just hang in there.

It may not be a cake walk for India, but a clash of erosion, where Dhoni's team must overcome the pressure of expectations before slaughtering the Bangla Tigers in their den.

Sreesanth replaces Praveen

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:42:52 -0500

Praveen Kumar, the Indian medium pace bowler, has been ruled out of the World Cup due to an injured elbow and will be replaced by Sreesanth. The verdict comes a day after Praveen failed to pass a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore to measure whether he had improved from the injury sustained before the start of the one-day series in South Africa last month. Praveen, 24 had been sent back right away from South Africa as a defensive step to recover at the NCA. The recovery did not go as planned, however, and he checked with Dr Andrew Wallace, a London-based surgeon who has taken care of many Indian players including Sachin Tendulkar. Praveen has been a usual with the Indian one-day side for the past couple of years and was set to be a sure starter in the World Cup, but his injury healed too slowly to let him to participate in the World Cup. Sreesanth has recognized himself in the Test side but has been on the periphery of the one-day outfit. He has played only 51 ODIs in more than five years since his debut in 2005, and has a swollen career economy rate of 6.01. But he proved efficient in the two ODIs he's played over the past 12 months, bagging seven wickets for 77 runs. The other fast bowlers in the Indian squad are Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel.

Injured Praveen ruled out of World Cup

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 02:07:08 -0500

A major hindrance for the Indian team before their World Cup campaign starts is that medium pace bowler Praveen Kumar has been ruled out of the tournament due to an elbow injury. Praveen had returned home during the ODI series against South Africa, after he had worsened an elbow injury. Despite that he was included in the final 15 team for the ICC tournament. He was undertaking a treatment at Bangalore's National Cricket Academy after which he went off to England. But the injury was just not getting better and time was running out, so Praveen is out. His substitution will be named soon and it's likely to be a competition between Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and R Vinay Kumar.

Injured Australia worries its title.

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:32:59 -0500

Australia's World Cup XI board their flight to India on Wednesday with injuries a worry, but the coach Tim Nielsen anticipates the selectors don't risk sending too many ailing players to secure the title. Ricky Ponting (finger), Michael Hussey (hamstring) and Nathan Hauritz (shoulder) have all been trying to prove their fitness for the big series, while some of their possible replacements are also struggling, including Xavier Doherty (back) and Shaun Marsh (hamstring).

The squad travels to India this week and their first practice match is on Sunday against India in Bangalore, eight days before their first game of the World Cup 2011, against Zimbabwe. Hussey said on the weekend that he would find it tough to be fully fit for the first couple of games, while Hauritz, who dislocated his shoulder while playing the recent ODIs against England, was bowling in the nets last week and said he had no uncertainty over his fitness for the World Cup.

"I can't afford to have two, three or four guys that we're uncertain about," Nielsen said. "It means we've only got 11 fit ready to go at the start. That's the quandary we face. What is the role the players who are injured play? Do we have back-up for that position? If we have an injury to somebody in the team at the moment is the injured person the next cab off the rank or the only possible replacement or do we have other options? All those things will be thrown into the mix."

One positive is the development being made by Ponting, who missed the Sydney Test after infuriating his broken finger during the Boxing Day Test. Ponting had a surgery on the little finger on his left hand after the Melbourne game, and by the time the World Cup arrives it will have had nearly seven weeks of healing time. He hasn't returned to fielding yet, but believes he could play if the Australians had an important match tomorrow. "I'm a lot better now than I was last week," Ponting said on Monday night at the Allan Border Medal ceremony in Melbourne. "I've been back in the nets this week; I've had three good hits and a bit of time out there. It's probably a bit more advanced than I thought it would be."

The spin place shapes up as one of the more grave issues, with Steven Smith also battling a hip muscle injury, along with the issues that are troubling Hauritz and Doherty. Smith's injury shouldn't be a chief concern, though the more serious state of affairs with Hauritz, added to the likelihood that Hussey won't be fit for the start of the World Cup, leaves the selectors with some headaches.

"We've got our fingers crossed for both those guys," Ponting said. "Their injuries couldn't have come at a worse time for us, looking forward to the World Cup. They're both very senior members of our side. We've got our fingers crossed for both those guys and I know the physios and doctors have been doing a lot of talking today about those two. Hopefully they come up." Australia have two warm-up matches before the World Cup begins, and they have six pool matches before finding out if they have advanced to the next round. Australia is in a group with Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya.

Salman, Asif, Aamir face 10, 7, 5 years ban

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 02:54:06 -0500

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have been barred for 10, 7 and 5 years respectively after an ICC court found them accountable of spot-fixing which came into light from the Lord's Test against England last year. The sanctions against Butt and Asif have five and two years suspended, which means that the trio cannot play any official, sanctioned cricket, international or domestic, for a minimum of five years, until September 2015.

The suspended decree on Butt and Asif have been made conditional on their making no more infringements of the code and take part in an anti-corruption education program, under the patronage of the PCB.

Butt, who was captain during the series in England, received the maximum sentence but one accuse against him - of batting out a maiden over during the Oval Test - was dismissed. However, he was found to have not disclosed an approach by Majeed that he should bat the maiden over. The other charges that were maintained relate to the following Lord's Test, where Amir and Asif were found to have bowled intentional no-balls and Butt was penalized for being accomplice to that. Amir will appeal against the verdict to the Court of Arbitration Sports, but the other two players have not yet said whether they will.

The statement on Saturday evening followed a day of discussions in Doha between the three-man tribunal - comprising the head Michael Beloff QC, Sharad Rao and Justice Albie Sachs - the players and their legal teams and the ICC's lawyers. The three players began the day requesting the hearing for a delay of any judgment, in light of the statement on Friday by the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that the players might also face criminal charges in relation to the Lord's Test as the result of a different inquiry carried out by British police. The players, who continued to maintain their virtuousness, argued that a decision today by the tribunal could be detrimental to any criminal trial in the UK, but the request was discarded.

The span of the sentences may be considered astonishing to the extent that at least one life ban had been envisaged beforehand. In theory, the 26-year-old Butt could return after five years if he conforms to the conditions of the judgment. Amir, who will only turn 19 in April, could also possibly harbour expectations of a return, though in realistic terms a five-year gap from any professional cricket makes the prospect of a return that much more hard. The situation is most miserable for Asif, who will be 33 by the time the minimum five years are up.

The tribunal also suggested that the ICC formulate "certain changes to the code with a view to providing flexibility in relation to minimum sentences in exceptional circumstances." The lawyers of Butt and Amir later said that the tribunal would've given inferior punishments had their hands not "been tied" to the code's range of sanctions.

News of the World, the newspaper that broke the spot-fixing story this summer, released a statement of its own, saying that "it is now clear to everyone in the game that corruption will not be tolerated,".

A number of Pakistani fans waited outside the Qatar Financial Centre, some for the entire nine-hour period of the proceedings, and gave loud support to the players when they ultimately came out. Amir, in fact, was mobbed and had to return inside the building momentarily.

Pakistani tainted trio charged

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 14:18:06 -0500

Butt, Amir, Asif at the middle of the spot-fixing allegations that rocked the cricket world last August have been charged by the UK Crown Prosecution Service with scheme to gain and accept dishonest payments, and conspiracy to defraud. Salman Butt, the Ex-Test captain, and fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have been accused of conspiring in the bowling of intentional no-balls on last year's tour of England – claims which they all disagree with.

Mazhar Majeed, the players' agent, was also not spared of charges, with a first hearing planned for City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on March 17. The CPS confirmed that expulsion orders would be required if the three players fail to turn up in court. "We have authorised charges of conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments and also conspiracy to cheat against Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt and Mazhar Majeed," Simon Clements, Head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said.

"We have decided that Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt and their agent, Mazhar Majeed, should be charged with conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments and also conspiracy to cheat. These charges relate to allegations that Mr Majeed accepted money from a third party to arrange for the players to bowl 'no balls' on 26 and 27 August 2010, during Pakistan's Fourth Test at Lord's Cricket Ground in London."

The CPS confirmed its findings in a statement shortly after 11 a.m. GMT on Friday, and the trio could be barred for life when an (ICC) tribunal proclaims the conclusions of its own inquiry in Doha on Saturday. A CPS spokesperson said there was no association between the two timings.

"Summonses for the same court date (March 17) have been issued for the three players and they have been asked to return to this country voluntarily, as they agreed to do in September last year. Their extradition will be sought should they fail to return."

In August 2010, Britain's News of the World tabloid did a newspaper 'sting operation' which it said confirmed the Pakistan trio's readiness were involved in the purposeful bowling of no-balls while playing the Lord's Test against England. This, the paper said, was proof of a spot-betting swindle where money can be gambled on exact incidents in a match with no need to 'fix' the outcome.

The Pakistan trio was interrogated by police. So too was Majeed, whom the newspaper alleged accepted £50,000 to set up the contract. Majeed was detained, and a third fast bowler, Wahab Riaz, was also questioned under vigilance.

Kolkata's loss is Bengaluru's gain

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 07:07:16 -0500

Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore is the new venue for the India-England World Cup game that was originally supposed to be played in Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata. The ICC confirmed this news later in the afternoon also confirming that there shall be no change in the date of the match.
"This decision now clarifies and gives us certainty over the fixture," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said. "We can now work with our various partners and stakeholders to make sure that the match - along with the rest of the tournament - is all it should be."

In a letter to the BCCI, the ICC also stated the pending work that had to be finished to get Eden Gardens ready for the World Cup. Kolkata was originally hosting three other matches for the cup, the first one being on March 15. The ICC said an audit team will visit Eden Gardens on February 7 to see the development made before deciding on the fate on those three matches.

The BCCI had selected Bangalore as its chosen venue for the India-England match after the ICC had ruled out Eden Garden last week.

The India-England match will now be the most coveted World Cup game for Bangalore, which hosts four other group games. Only one of those features the home team, while all of them pit a minnow against a strong side.