My eyes were glued to the Live scorecard of Cricinfo, hand busy trying to refresh the page every single second- Just to see who would be the greatest among the greats! Pakistan had everything going in favor of them until tat last deadly over or taking it further more- the impeccable performance by Mike Hussey. They had put up challenging 191 on the board- Thanks to the Akmal bros notching up a 50 piece with Butt chipping in an useful 32. Then they got Aussies on the backfoot- picking up early wickets, all of their bowlers having a really good economy. Until the Whites and the Husseys cut loose sending the ball all over the park. Started with White- who I have never seen play for RCB- True Desh bhakth- but got out when they had 50+ runs to chase. It was never easy for the tail enders to whack around. But Hussey was the man- he had in him the sleeping devil who unleashed his wrath- sending the ball over the boundary. Still 18 required- I thought Pak had still chances of winning- but Jhonny was intelligent enough to get him a single and the devil smashed- 6-6-4-6 Can u imagine that? I was just speechless, shocked- omg Aussies have made it to the finals 🙁
Cricket
IPL 2009 Inaugural Day Updates (April 18)
IPL is back after a year! One year has passed so quickly, the Rajasthan Royals final match is still fresh in my mind 🙂 This time IPL is being held out of India- Indian Premium League in South Africa 😛 Its was a day of upsets everywhere, a day of upset for me either- tough SE Exam paper 🙁 The Inaugural match between Mumbai Indians(MI) and Chennai Super Kings(CSK) was at some point interesting but then MI comfortably won the match (looks comfortable for ppl watchin on TV, may not be for the players 😀 ) The main take aways from that match was- Tendulkar continuing his New Zealand form started off IPL in stlye with a 50 :), Nayar smashed 3 sixes in Flintoff’s over (hope he sleeps peacefully tonight and those sixes don’t haunt him 😛 ). Malinga fierce with the ball- he is fiercefull without the ball either. And and any other key MI performances- I cant recall. Coming to CSK they had very little to cheer about- Gony took few wickets, Dhoni hit few runs ( Gony and Dhoni are so rhyming), so did Hayden. In the end wat matters is the winner and its MI (not Mission Impossible 😛 )
Rampant Indians Overcome spirited Bangladesh
Yet again Indians have emerged victorious in the Asia Cup match. Truly speaking Bangladesh put on a good fight, though they couldn’t stop fired up Raina and all elegant Gambhir, but they had a better batting display. Alok Kapli’s well crafted century backed by a patient knock by Tamim Iqbal gave Bangladesh bowlers something to … Read more
Men In Blue Merciless against “Weaker Teams”
Men In Blue have always been merciless against weaker teams. Indians rewrote the Asia Cup record book in today’s match against Hong Kong. Oh such a strong opponent 😉 But it was unfortunate that they could not break the record for the largest margin victory they had set against Bermuda in the league match of previous world cup, another strong team. Indian players have been rewriting record books, setting personal bests against low profile teams, but when it comes to playing against Australia or some other strong team, they hardly perform 🙁 Raina hit his maiden century against Hong Kong and that too second fastest for India. But i don’t want to comment against Dhoni’s knock, he has been playing with a lot maturity. It could be seen in his knock in the final match against Pakistan and not only that match there are many such instances. Even Sehwag and Gambhir have been playing well most of the times. But they flatter during the knockout matches. Example can be taken from the Kitply Cup, where in they thrashed Pakistan during the league match but in the Final, they could not repeat the same performance.
On- Field Umpires Decision Can be reviewed: ICCs New Rule to be implemented
Gone were the days when the on-field umpires enjoyed the supreme authority on the field. ICCs new
experimental rule allowing the players to seek a second review on the On-field umpires decision will be used during the upcoming India-Sri Lanka Test Series from July 23 in Colombo.
A batsman or the captain of the fielding side may request a review of the On- Field Umpire’s decision. Once asked for a review the umpire has to refer to the TV Umpire who will have the final say. If the TV umpire upholds the appeal than the On-field umpire will have to revoke his decision. But there is restriction on the number of review requests to be made. Each team will be allowed 3 unsuccessful review request per innings. If this would not have been there then one can imagine what would happen and the matches would take more time to be completed. Unsuccessful review request is the one where the appeal on the On-field umpire’s decision is put down by the TV Umpire. In case the Review request is upheld then the team will be provided with one more Review chance.
Rajasthan Royals crush Delhi Daredevils by 105 runs, march into Finals
That was an humiliating performance by Delhi Daredevils in the first Semi Final of the inaugural IPL 
Tournament. Playing at a neutral venue Rajasthan Royals annihilated Delhi Daredevils in an one sided encounter. Delhi was never looking in a position to steal the victory from the in-form Rajasthan Royals. Rajasthan have had a great run through the tournament and with them being the first team for the finals, the other will be decided from the next semi final encounter. I think a sheer mistake can only defy them from being crowned as the champions of the inaugural IPL Twenty20 Championship.
Kumble’s heroics guide Bangalore RC to stunning victory
With a modest target of 127 to chase and with likes of Fleming , Parthiv, Dhoni, Raina, Badrinath in the
batting line up Chennai Super Kings(CSKs) looked firm favorites to win the match when they began their chase. And to add to that the openers Parthiv and Fleming gave a flying start. The duo put on 60 for the first wicket in just 9 overs, with Kumble taking the wicket of Parthiv for 24. Half way thru the target CSKs seemed to be preparing to the celebrations. But tragedy stuck- They lost 5 quick wickets for just 30 runs on the board. With their top order batsmen back in the dressing room- there was panic all around. Imagine the side off to a flying start with 60-1 and then 93-6 in 16 overs. The tail enders did not last long and they could not do much. CSKs chasing 127 ended up scoring 112 in their quota of overs with the loss of 8 wickets giving B’lore RCs much needed victory :).
Bangalore Royal Challengers Out of Semifinal spot
The defeat against Delhi Daredevils in todays match has put Bangalore Royal Challengers out of the contention for a Semi Final spot. But the Royal Challengers(RC) had some positives to take back home. The excellent debut innings by young Shreevats Goswami was chiefly responsible for the RC’s score which was boosted by Misbah’s late onslaught. … Read more
Pietersen fever Set to hit Indian Shores- In Line for a record IPL deal
England Cricket Board(ECB) has till now has not allowed its centrally contracted players to play in the BCCI- backed Twenty20 venture, but in Pietersen’s case they were already ready to making an exception. Kevin has been offered a record $4 million deal for three years, much more than what Dhoni gets, to play in the … Read more
What ails Bangalore Royal Challengers?
Bangalore Royal Challengers are sitting pretty at the bottom of the table. They have not stood up to T20 requirements. When their bowlers do well, batsmen fail miserably and when their bowlers don’t do well even then their batsmen fail miserably. So its like batsmen not doing their homework properly.
Look at the Rajasthan Royals, they were the underdogs when they entered the championship with $67 million franchise but now its the first team to go into the semifinals of the IPL Championship. Did they have any great players? They do have players who are suited for the type of game. Analyzing the Rajasthan Royals one can find hard hitting batsmen Graeme Smith, Shane Watson, Yusuf Pathan to name a few and their bowling department has the likes of Shane Warne, Sohail Tanvir, Munaf Patel. They have been working as a team. With each payer consistently making up for the poor performance put up by the others. They keep blaming individuals for not doing well. When a team performs badly, the team as a whole has to take the blame. It can’t be said that we lost because of so and so player or if so and so player would have fielded well we would have won. All these statements are just to bail oneself out of the criticism. The recent match between Rajasthan Royals and Bangalore Royal Challengers shows how well the former team is playing as an unit and how poorly the latter is performing as a team. The recent deadly blasts at Jaipur did not dampen the spirits of the team instead they gave the people of Jaipur a reason to rejoice, a reason for the people to smile about. Hats off to the team Rajasthan Royals. They have been an inspiring team. Shane Watson has been the man to watch out for. His heroics with bat and ball has made him the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament. Its Shane Warne who has been a clever captain and an able coach. He is the only Non Indian captain and has been leading his side from the front, and has been a role model for the youngsters in his team. So there are loads of things one has to learn from Rajasthan Royals.