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Hero Honda World Cup Hockey

Less than a week ago, the spectators in the Capt. Roop Singh Stadium at Gwalior were shouting Sachin, Sachin, at the top of their voices who went on to score the only double ton in an ODI which ia a world record.  At the Major Dhyan Singh stadium, New Delhi on sunday night, the spectators were chanting  Sandeep Singh, Sandeep Singh all the way who scored two goals in the 35th and 57th minute. India hammered Pakistan 4-1 in their first encounter in the Pool B match of Hero Honda  World Cup. The players and the support staff got a purse of Rs. One Lakh for their magnificient effort. (more…)

India set themselves up for a series victory on Wednesday in the most brutal manner possible, with help from Sachin Tendulkar, who brought up one-day cricket’s first ever double-century. Master blaster Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar created history to became the first ever ODI batsman to make 200 runs in an innings. India made 401 for 3 in the allotted 50 overs and have set a 402-run target for South Africa at the Roop Singh Stadium at Gwalior in the 2nd ODI played between India and South Africa.

Sachin Tendulkar made 200* and rewrote history in Gwalior with 25 fours and 3 sixes. MS Dhoni (68*) also fired on all cylinders to propel India to 401/3. Earlier, India won the toss and elected to bat. Nobody has seen God, but the God of cricket was seen by everyone playing at the Capt. Roop Singh stadium at Gwalior, India, going past the 194 made by Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry and Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar, and to say that historians of cricket will remain busy so long as Sachin keeps batting.  (more…)

India got the scare of their life but they survived the onslaught of the South African tail and beat them by 1 run on the last ball of the nail-biting 50 over match.  South Africa won the toss and elected to field at the Savai Man Singh Stadium at Jaipur in the First ODI played between them on Sunday. India’s gave a pathetic display of their batting and their top order collapsed due to a bit of hard-luck and lapse of concentration and they lost wickets at regular intervals. 

Suresh Raina was the only batsman who could post a half century for India. Sachin (4) and Sehwag (46) were very unfortunate to be run out. No batsman was able to post a good score and there were hardly any partnerships worth mentioning. (more…)

Four centuries in the first innings by Sehwag, Sachin, Luxman and Dhoni gave India  a formidable 347  run first innings lead over South Africa at the Eden Gardens, Kolkatta.. In the second innings for S.A., it was only Hashim Amla who played a defiant knock of 123 not out. But apart from his performance, none of the other batsmen were able to withstand the jugglery of the spinning duo Harbhajan(5 for 59) and Mishra(3 for 78).

India’s main strike bowler Zaheer Khan was resting with a knee injury sustained yesterday and India were down to three bowlers. They still managed to pull off a miraculous victory with less than two mandatory overs to spare. Harbhajan Singh,bowled exceptionally well and took five wickets in South Africa’s second innings. (more…)

Earlier it was the Pakistani cricket players who were not bought by the team owners for the ensuing IPL-3 and created an international row on the issue. And now it is the Australian cricket players who despite having being bought by some of the team owners are under a shadow of doubt about their inclusion in the playing XI on the day of the matches.

Addressing his party  on Monday, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said Australian players cannot play matches in Maharashtra. Thackeray had issued the same warning earlier as payback for the repeated attacks against Indians in Australia. (more…)

The Indian Premier League on Saturday decided to move all of Deccan Chargers’ home games from Hyderabad and Vizag, home ground of the Deccan Chargers, due to political unrest over the Telangana region to Mumbai because of security fears due to the  agitation.

Deccan Chargers, the defending champions of IPL 2 will not be playing on the home ground, which they are very keen to do. If they play on the home-turf, they will have the moral support of the crowd as well as it will be a crowd-puller and money-spinner for their State.

The Andhra Pradesh capital was to host five matches, excluding the tournament opener on March 12, but the organizers have decided to move out. (more…)

Why did IPL have to snub Pakistan cricket players is still not clear. The Government is non-committal and has a different version or is probably hiding behind the garb of visa-issue and/or something like that. The question is why were the names of Pakistan players included in the list of players to be auctioned – in the first place?

Shahid Afridi

Cricketers from Pakistan had participated in the first edition of IPL in 2008. Why not now? A sports-cum-political comedy of sorts has occured, which is becoming more interesting than the matches themselves.

“ The participation or absence of Pakistani cricketers in a commercial event of the nature of IPL is, thus, a matter not within the purview of the Government”, says the government.

WOW!  Well said – buddy. Non-inclusion of players like Shahid Afridi and Sohail Tanvir   from the cash-rich tournament  is not understood as they both are crowd pullers and watching them is within the justified demands of the spectators. Afridi burns the stadium with the wilt of his willow and Tanveer can make many a heads roll with his balls. He is the highest wicket taker in the first IPL tourney. (more…)

The 5th ODI between India and Sri Lanka had to be abandoned ater 23.3 overs had been bowled and SriLanka had mustered 83 runs for the loss of 5 wickets at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground at Delhi on Sunday.

The Delhi crowd had come to the Stadium to enjoy a cricket-full Sunday but their enjoyment was short lived. Thet were expecting India to win today and were happy to see Thranga back in the pavillion on the first delivery of the day bowled by Zahir Khan. (more…)

Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bat in the fourth ODI against India played at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Thursday.

A superb catch by Virat Kohli  brought the end of Dilshan as Sri Lanka lost their first wicket for 31 after 8 overs. Jayasuriya also looked in fine nick in his  15 runs before he edged Zaheer in the first slip.

For the Sri Lankan’s, Upul Tharanga hit his seventh ODI century and participated in a 126-run partnership with  Kumar Sangakkara (60) as Sri Lanka posted 315 for six, the highest score at the venue till India overhauled it. (more…)

Tillakaratne Dilshan reached 41 from just 18 balls, and with Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara continuing the run riot, Sri Lanka were on the path of another massive total after deciding to bat first in Cuttack on Monday.

 But from 165 for 1 after 22.2 overs, they collapsed like nine-pins and were 239 all out. They had lost the remaining nine wickets for 74 runs. Srilanka were 51 for no loss in 4 overs.

The spinners controlled the run riot after the pace bowlers, Ashish Nehra & Co. were slammed to fences and the fielders sent on the leather hunt. It was left to Virender Sehwag, captaining in place of MS Dhoni, to give the team some respite, having Sangakkara stumped for 46, despite Dinesh Karthik initially fumbling to collect the ball.  That success was built on soon after, with Tharanga losing his off stump in Jadeja’s opening over, when he was at 73. (more…)