Cricket Tournaments

Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag making their presence felt, the fragile middle-order has been exposed. While Yuvraj Singh has made a few contributions, skipper M.S. Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan, Gautam Gambhir leave a lot to be desired. An important case in point is the senseless batting display by the Men in blue during the batting display. On more cases than one, the batting powerplay have witnessed some uninspired batting. The very fact that you need to get the ball past the in-field to fetch a boundary has not been worked out. For a team that has done well on the performance aspect in the last few years, Dhoni’s men have been found wanting in the imagination aspect of the game.

While the Indian batters have always wanted to use the longer handle, it is the singles that needs to be taken to rotate the strike, a trait, which I doubt would ever be mastered by Dhoni’s men.

Now, we come to the bowling and fielding assets of the team. Well, the lesser said, the better. The selectors literally spun a surprise by including Piyush Chawla in the final 15. Chawla, who last played for India back in 2008, has looked ordinary and should have been given more chances with the side than picking him up for a tournament of this magnitude.

Barring Zaheer Khan who has been inspirational with the ball, the rest of the cherry-hurlers have looked out of sorts. While Ashish Nehra played one ‘eventful’ match in this tournament, players such Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel has looked good only in patches.

Zaheer needs a special mention here. While he has constantly bowled with venom and head, the lack of support for him at the other end has made India look ordinary with the ball. With Zaheer looking like the only bowler who looks threatening, Dhoni needs to utilise him judiciously.

Indian ground fielding never was high-quality, and, in all probability, will never be one. While players such as Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh are the live-wires in the field, others in the form of Ashish Nehra are embarrassing to say the least. While the Indians may not be great fielding outfit, but showcasing intent and applying themselves on the field could go a long way in helping the team save invaluable runs.

Also, with the crunch game against the West Indies in Chennai coming up on Sunday, India will have to be on their toes if they want to make it to the quarters with a lot of confidence.

Coming to the main question—will this team lift the World Cup? Well, the world is full of miracles and India do have the necessary arsenal to surprise its spectators in both their wins and their losses. Fingers crossed.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Suresh Raina stood up to be counted for the Chennai Super Kings as M S Dhoni’s men got the better of the Mumbai Indians in the title clash of IPL 3. In front of a capacity Sunday evening crowd at the D Y Patil stadium, Raina first blasted an unbeaten 57 from 35 balls to help his side recover from a slow start and post a highly challenging 168 for 5.

Then, when it was Chennai’s turn to defend the score, the youngster chipped in by dismissing Harbhajan Singh and also took a magnificent running catch to dismiss the dangerous Saurabh Tiwary as Mumbai’s batting fell apart. In a baffling move, the home side sent in Kieron Pollard at the fall of the sixth wicket, by which time the required rate had sky-rocketed to nearly 17.

And, so despite a last-ditch, big-hitting effort of 27 from 10 balls from the tall West Indian, Mumbai were left stranded, eventually falling 22 runs short.

There was nothing dramatic at the start of Chennai’s innings to suggest that they would end up posting a winning total. After winning the toss and promptly deciding to bat first, Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay were kept quiet in the wake of some accurate bowling from Mumbai bowlers.

Dilhara Fernando was particularly impressive, mixing his deliveries up very well and keeping the batsmen on their toes. Still, Chennai’s openers did well to add to keep their wickets in tact and add 44 for the first wicket at a steady pace.

But, once Vijay fell to Fernando, trying to break the shackles, the momentum clearly shifted in Mumbai’s direction. Hayden followed soon after struggling for his 17. And, with S Badrinath also not firing, Chennai had their back to the wall at 67 for 3 in the 12th over.

Chennai needed something special to recover. And, it came in the form of Raina, who timed and the placed the ball with ludicrous ease, on a pitch where most other struggled. Raina was lucky to be dropped twice in two overs.

But, to his credit he rode his luck. He played some superb lofted shots against Zaheer Khan and Kieron Pollard and also drove on the up, finding the gap with precision.

The left-hander raced to his half-century as Mumbai were made to pay dearly for their misses. While Raina, was brilliant at one end, it was actually skipper Dhoni who began the turnaround by smashing a couple of boundaries after the fall of the early wickets.

However, such was the impact of Raina’s knock that everything else paled in comparison. Chennai did not mind it though as they went into the mid-innings break having the upper hand.

The match was far from over as Mumbai had the arsenal in their ranks to chase it down. But, Chennai made things extremely tough for them right from the start. Doug Bollinger not only bowled a tight line, he also got an edgy Shikhar Dhawan to nick one in his opening over.

At the other end, R Ashwin carried on with the good work he had been doing throughout the tournament. For a change he wasn’t among the wickets, but kept runs at a premium, which aided Dhoni add extra pressure.

Mumbai did shine briefly during the chase. Sachin Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar combined to bring their side back on track with a 66-run partnership. Tendukar found the boundary at regular intervals while Nayar hit a couple of big sixes off the spinners. However, once the partnership was broken, following a mix-up, things fell apart.

Mumbai did not help their cause by holding back Pollard for the last three overs. It was 114 for 6 by the time walked and there was just too much for him to do. He did give it his best shot, slamming three fours and two mighty sixes in the space of 9 deliveries.

It was far from enough though. In the end, Mumbai were left ruining the missed opportunities that let Raina get away and swing the final in Chennai’s favour.

India won the ODI series against West Indies by 2-1

In India won the 4 ODI cricket series in Caribbean against Indies by 2-1 after the final match was expelled due to rain. Caribbean win came after seven years making it historical win over Indies on their own land.

On 5th July Sunday, at Beausejour stadium both team were ready for the final assault. It was do or die situation for Indies as India was leading the series by 2-1. India was also prepared to sway the finals to overpower World T20 Cup catastrophe. But again the Caribbean monsoon played the spoil sport and match has to be dismissed due to heavy downpour. Initially match was delayed before the start and match was reduced to 49 overs per side match.

India won the toss and put the Indies to bat first. Dhoni took the sensible decision to utilize the moisture for taking wickets in the initial overs. Ishant Sharma gave an initial jolt to the Indies by taking the ducked wicket of skipper Chris Gayle. Ramnaresh Sarwan (12) and Runako Morton (12) continued till 7.4 overs at 27 runs off 1 wicket when play was suspended indefinitely by heavy downpour.

Later rainfall stopped but the ground was too wet to continue the game. Umpires decided to wait but soon after two hours they evaluated and declared the outfield unfit and too wet for the game. Consequently India won the series by 2-1 after 7 years and the 5th ODI series win consecutively. Afterwards match ceremony preceded and Indian captain M.S. Dhoni raised the cup.

India back fired in the Caribbean series after it was forced out of the World T20 Championship. Indian fans which were furious because of the early exit of the World T20 now have something to cheer about.

In the first ODI at Kingston India showcased its dexterity in the game but the Indies were also able to came closer to the 340 run target but succumbed just by 20runs. Yuvraj Singh knocked stunning ton proving himself to be match winner for India. The second ODI came as the realization as India was still weaker and some kind of restlessness taking over them when they lost by eight wickets to Indies. Dhoni performed well in the second ODI but of no consequence, his rest of the teammates were not able to support him. In the third ODI Dhoni and his teammates were prepared to back fire and they did. Dhoni again blasted with bat and chased with the stronger hold of nerve, eventually leading for six wickets victory.

India is having lot of player injuries and whole team is retarded due to constant playing. Now soon in September cricket fans going to have ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa. ICC Champions Trophy takes place after every two years, often been won by different side on every occasion. India has bet to make for it but before that they need relaxation. On the other hand Indies need to do homework regarding team planning.