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M.S.Dhoni won the toss and asked Ireland to bat first at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium,  Bangalore on Sunday in their encounter in the World Cup 2011.  Dhoni was proved right by Zahir Khan who took two early wickets, clean bowling Paul Sterling for a duck and got the edge of Ed Joyce for Dhoni to do the rest. The score card read a dismal 9 for 2 after 4 overs.

Yuvraj Singh

Earlier  Ireland  has successfully  chased  327 against England and this could also have prompted Dhoni’s decision to bowl first instead of setting a target.

Munaf Patel and Zaheer Khan were bowling in tandem and Dhoni’s decision of  removing Munaf Patel at that moment and asking Yusaf Pathan to bowl with the almost new ball was very surprising.

Part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh grabbed a five-wicket haul as India restricted Ireland to 207 in their Group B encounter when he rattled the Irish batting with his slow left arm bowling.

Ireland skipper William Porterfield contributed with 75 runs while Niall O’Brien, who played second fiddle to his captain in the 113-run stand, also scored 46. Read the rest of this entry »

Sachin Tendulkar

Zaheer Khan bowled exceptionally well and helped India snatch a point from England after a pathetic display from Indian bowlers and fielders led to team’s failure in defending a huge target of 338 as the Group B match ended in a tie at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore on Sunday.

Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat on Sunday in front of a packed  stadium against England in their second World Cup fixture. Sachin Tendulkar delighted the spectators there and millions watching all over the world, with his five sixes and struck his 47th ODI century. This was his 98th century in International cricket.

When Sehwag was going great guns, Sachin was suppporting him with calm and ease and almost stood there watching Sehwag score. Sehwag got 35 runs though he could have been out twice during this period. Read the rest of this entry »

Virender Sehwag slammed the highest score by an Indian against Bangla Desh in the inaugural match of the ICC World Cup match played at Mirpur. Bangla Desh won the toss and elected to field first keeping the dew factor in mind which might fall in the second part of the game so also that they find run chasing easier.

Sehwag started the tournament with the usual flurry of shots. He sent the first ball of the match to the long-on boundary. Shafiul offered Sehwag width again and watched the final ball speed to the cover boundary. In his second over, Shafiul erred by offering Sachin Tendulkar two deliveries on the pads: both were flicked to the boundary. 

In between those overs, Rubel Hossain had conceded two boundaries as well, and India raced to 36 after four overs. That  forced Shakib to turn to his premier spinner, Abdur Razzak, in the fifth. Read the rest of this entry »

New York. The External Affairs Minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, told reporters today that the Indian students of California-based Tri Valley University, which has been shut down on charges of massive visa fraud, should be absorbed into other US universities and not victimised.

“The student who came in good faith, they should not be victimised, and it is necessary they should be absorbed into other universities in the United States and allowed to pursue their studies,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »

Foreign journalists were beaten with sticks and fists by pro-government mobs on the streets Cairo last Thursday and dozens were reported detained by security forces in what the U.S. called a concerted attempt to intimidate the press. They include journalists from India also who are working for various TV news channels and newspapers and have travelled in recent days to Egypt to cover the latest developments taking place there. It is learnt that more are planning a visit in coming days.

Indian Government has now issued an advisory on travel of Indian journalists to Egypt. Read the rest of this entry »

India has still not beeen able to settle the issue of attacks on Indian students in Australia and is now facing similar humiliation in the United States. The US authorities have confiscated the passports of Indian students of the Tri-Valley University, California and have now radio-tagged them for exposing that the University is a fake. Indian authorities have condemned this inhumane act and the MEA has asked that stern action be taken against the erring officials.

The Tri-valley University in the US has been found to be dud then how can the Indian students be penalised for no wrong-doing on their part? They have been radio-tagged like criminals on parole. These people had gone to US on valid visas and had the status of a ‘student’ and suddenly they are being termed as ‘illegal visitors’ for  no fault? Actually it is the racket conducted by the Americans who are running a fake uaniversity and the Indians are being held to take over the responsibility for this mess. Why? Read the rest of this entry »

India won the toss and asked South Africa to bat first who scored 250 for 9  wickets.  Rain had curtailed the match on Sunday at the Centurion and the Indians had been required to score a revised target of 268 in 46 overs.
 
If there was a fight-back by India, the lone crusader was Yusuf Pathan who launched an unparalleled assault to demonstrate that India meant business and that it shouldn’t be a cake-walk for South Africa but his knock could not provide the much needed victory to India.

Yusuf blasted a century off 68 balls and at that stage less than 50 runs were required for India to win the match and chaos was evident in the South African team. But after completing his century Yusuf gave a catch and was out much to the relief of South African team as well as the spectators.

The bowlers ran through the India’s top six in the batting order and apart from Parthiv Patel, 38 runs,  there was no one to shoulder the responsibility. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »