BedTea.in | Ravi Matah's Blog

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat in the 4th ODI on Friday against India being played at Port Elizabeth. South Africa piled up a score of 266 for the loss of seven wickets thanks to the half centuries by JP Duminy and Hashim Amla.

JP Duminy

South Africa were cruising along comfortably at 100 for 1 after which they lost four quick wickets, two of which were needless run-outs. Then came JP Duminy to the crease who, alongwith Botha steadied the SA ship and added 70 runs along with him.

Amla took his time to settle down in the early overs, but soon unfurled his full range of strokes to pick up plenty of boundaries. All the three Indian pacers Zahir Khan, Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra were punished by Amla.

Harbhajan Singh also strayed in line and length and Amla capitalised by working him through the gaps in the leg side. A slash to third man off Yuvraj Singh brought Amla his 12th half-century. (more…)

Yusuf Pathan’s chanceless 59 helped India beat South Africa by two wickets during the second ODI in Cape Town on Tuesday. India were struggling at 93 for 5 before Pathan and Raina steadied the innings with a 75-run partnership.South Africa had made 220 runs and Plessis and Duminy helped South Africa’s recovery earlier.

Thereafter, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan then ensured that India won the match to give a 2-1 lead in the five ODI series. 

Yusuf Pathan helped India recover from a top-order collapse to eke out a thrilling two-wicket win over South Africa in the third one-dayer here. 

The match changed dramatically in the 28th over of the Indian innings when Pathan, on six, edged Botha for a boundry between wicketkeeper AB de Villiers and captain Graeme Smith at slip. (more…)

The exclusion of middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma was the major surprise in India’s 15-man World Cup squad announced in Chennai by the Selection Committee that met on Monday for the ICC World Cup 2011, which begins from February 19.

M.S.Dhoni

The other bone of contention had been the second specialist spinner’s slot, and the selectors have picked both offspinner R Ashwin and leg spinner Piyush Chawla, ahead of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

Another surprise omission was  Sreesanth who has been bowling well and has been amongst the wickets in the cricket matches being played in South Africa.

The announcement also allayed fears about the injury-scare that hit the Indian camp on the South African tour, with all the four injured players – Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Praveen Kumar – being named.

The nominated squad also does not include a second wicket keeper in case the situation so demands. (more…)

The Indian Premium League auction has shown that the franchises have opted for youth over experience while buying players for their respective teams.  Yes, the big guns of yester-years had no takers and the lesser known players have been bought for huge sums.

Gautam Gambhir is the highest paid at $2.4 million. Yusaf Pathan, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma,  Saurabh Tewary and Yuvraj Singh have also seen an upward revision of their purse at the IPL door. As per IPL laws, only four foreign players are allowed in the playing eleven and the rest have to be Indians, as such the franchises need at least 70 Indian players who have an impact on Cricket. The franchises are, therefore, willing to shell out large sums of money to get the best out of the lot available.

Irfan Pathan, though side-lined earlier from India Test and ODI XI because of his inability to bowl consistently, has been bought for an exorbitant price of $1.9 million. (more…)

India scored 166 runs for 3 wickets on the fifth and final day of the third test and saved the series. The three test series ended in a 1-1 draw. The Indian bowlers failed on the fourth day to capitalise on the advantage which India had and on the fifth day Indian batsmen ensured that they were able to draw the series for the first time in South Africa. Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir were the walls between South Africa and a series win at home.

India were playing for a draw all along and did not try to win this test Match because Dhoni and company knew that getting 340 runs on day five was a difficult ball game,   if not impossible. On the other hand South African bowlers particularly Steyn and Morkel could not dent the Indian batting much and SA managed to get only 3 wickets. (more…)

South Africa suffered one of their worst ever defeats at the hands of India in Durban on Wednesday. India made amends for the drubbing at Centurion with a sensational 87-run victory against South Africa in a low-scoring second cricket Test to level the three-match series 1-1.

VVS Luxman

India had set SA a target of 303, and the Indians put up a disciplined show to dismiss the hosts for 215 after the lunch break. This was their second win in a Test match in South Africa. The 123-run victory in the first Test at Johannesburg in 2006 was their first Test victory there. 

The Indians players jumped in joy and hugged each other after last man Lonwabo Tsotsobe was run out to bring about the moment of glory while coach Gary Kirsten and the other support staff stood up at the dressing room to applaud the players. 

This pitch was indeed bowler friendly and a batsman’s agony. S Sreesanth 3 for 45 runs, Zaheer Khan 3 for 53 runs and Harbhajan Singh  2 for70 runs did the job  for India while Ashwell Prince was the top scorer for the South Africans with an unbeaten 39.  (more…)

No one ever thought that this 16 year old lad who hit three sixes in an over off Abdul Qadir on debut in the Karachi Test in 1989, would one day create  records which would be unsurpassable for centuries to come. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar caressed the ball through covers to achieve the milestone of 50 centuries in test Cricket in India’s first test against South Africa at the Centurion Park.  I feel that even our great-grand-children will be talking about Tendulkar’s records while discussing cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar

He has 96 centuries in International Cricket and is four short of the coveted century of centuries mark. His appetite for runs is insatiable and he commented on his fiftieth century by saying that it is another number and said that ‘he has dedicated this century to his father as it was his birthday yesterday’.

Even after two decades of being at the pinnacle of international cricket, he still wants to improve his game and is still hungry for runs. This is what keeps him apart from his contemporaries and he is always increasing the gap between him and the next in line  Ricky Ponting. (more…)

Gautam Gambhir lost the toss and New Zealand opted to bat first at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Friday. The Indian bowlers did a magnificient job and bundled out New Zealand for a paltry 103 runs in 27 overs and Parthiv Patel rubbed salt to the  New Zealand wounds by hitting up a half century simultaneously knocking the doors of the selection Commitee reminding them for a place in the World Cup squad. 

Yuvraj Singh

India  have thus white-washed New Zealand in the five match ODI series 5-0. India’s pacers got little swing in the air but that was sufficient for Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra to do the initial damage. Bowling stumps to stumps Praveen Kumar managed to send down an out-swinger to get an edge from Martin Guptill. 

New Zealand lost Brendom McCullum also very quickly and at a stage were 14 for the loss of 2 wickets. He was declared out lbw to Nehra who brought one inwards from the off stump on to his pads. 

Ross Taylor also edged the ball with his glove from Ashish Nehra for Parthiv Patel to do the rest. Ashish Nehra got two wickets for 34 runs and Praveen Kumar bagged 1 wicket for 20 runs.  (more…)

Yusaf Pathan steered India to an improbable victory at Bangalore in their fourth ODI against New Zealand on Tuesday. Gautam Gambhir won the toss and put New Zealand in to bat bat who laid down a huge score of 315 runs. Chasing this mammoth score, India, at one stage were 188 for 5 having lost the top five batsmen. But Yusuf Pathan was was on a different pedestal altogether. He struck with confidence and stamped authority with his each shot. His 97 ball 123 runs were ample proof that Pathan has given a notice to the selection committee for the forthcoming World Cup.  

His century overshadowed a superbly-crafted 98 from James Franklin that had allowed New Zealand to reach a daunting total.

It rained for about an hour and when play resumed again, India needed 113 runs from 14 overs a difficult task which was made easy by Yusuf Pathan.  Yusuf launched a Daniel Vettori delivery into the stands beyond long-on and shot a delivery from Kyle Mills over the roof. 

In the  43rd over Pathan smashed Mills for three fours and slammed a six over midwicket. And when he brought up his maiden hundred with a pulled six, off Andy McKay in the next over, the game was almost over.  (more…)

Gautam Gambhir won the toss at Vadodra Cricket Stadium on Saturday and asked New Zealand to make first use of the pitch. But it was Zahir Khan and Munaf Patel who utilised the moist morning conditions. New Zealand could pile up only 224 runs and it was by no stretch of imagination a fighting score.

Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir made the chase look ridiculously easy and maintained his captaincy record also as he produced a Captain’s knock of 126 not out to wipe out the New  Zealand total of 224  runs for 9 wickets with more than ten overs to spare. He cracked his second century on the trot, to power India to a series-clinching nine-wicket victory over New Zealand in the third ODI at Vadodara today.

India  have taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series.

Gambhir, who smashed 16 boundaries with his flicks and drives in the 117 balls he faced, put on 115 runs for the opening wicket with Murali Vijay who made a slow 30 in 50 balls before being run out.

Kohli remained unbeaten on 63 in 70 balls with six fours and two sixes. He also hit the winning runs, a six over long on. (more…)