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A 15-year title-drought came to an end as India, who displayed a clinical and magnificent performance, won the Asia Cup tournament after crushing defending champions Sri Lanka by 81 runs in the Asia Cup final on Thursday. 

Captain M.S.Dhoni elected to bat first after winning the toss,  India posted a fighting total of 268 for six. They then skittled out the Sri Lankan’s for only 187 in 44.4 overs. India displayed a scintillating performance in all departments of the game and won the Trophy at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Thursday.  (more…)

Harbhajan’s  shot over the midwicket fence helped India over-haul Pakistan’s score of 267 runs  in a thrilling encounter at the Rangiri stadium in Dambulla on Saturday in the 4^th ODI of the Asia Cup.

Harbhajan Singh smashed the penultimate ball from Mohammad Aamer for a six as India knocked Pakistan out of the Asia Cup with a three-wicket win on Saturday. He scored an unbeaten 15 runs off 11 balls and received the prize of the Lord of the Match.

Harbhajan Singh

Both India and  Sri Lanka are into the final which will be played on June 24  and the last two league matches are inconsequential.

Opener Gautam Gambhir hit 83 off 97 balls and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni chipped in with 57 during a third-wicket stand of 97 which lifted India to 180-2 in the 36th over.

But Gambhir’s dismissal at that stage, bowled by Saeed Ajmal, brought a middle-order collapse which saw four wickets fall for the addition of 39 runs only. (more…)

India bowed out of the ICC T20 World Cup Championship with a five-wicket defeat by Sri Lanka in the match held in the Caribbean on Tuesday. Team India had lost all of their matches in the Super eight fight and stand last in the  list. On paper, Team India looks one of the best in the world, but when it comes to ground reality, they have fizzled out in their application to the assigned task. 

What happened there is hard to pin point, but if we do a collective soul searching, it was a combined responsibility of the selection committee in the first place and the team management on the ground in the second place. 

With hats off to Krish Srikaant for his splended contribution to Indian Cricket, he should have infused young legs into the 15 players selected for the World Cup. Anyone, who can do a Gayle or a Pollard on the pitch from India was Robin Uthappa, and he did not find a place in the playing XI.  (more…)

M.S.Dhoni’s shrewd captaincy and clinical approach assured Chennai Super Kings the victory against the formidable Mumbai Indians  in the final of the IPL-3 tournament.

The closing ceremony delayed the toss by more than half an hour at the DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai.   It was MS Dhoni, who won the toss and chose to bat on Sunday. Both the sides played the same XIs that won them the semi-finals. 

Raina’s 57 not out took Chennai Super Kings to a respectable and fighting total of 168 for 5 in the final of IPL-3 played Sunday at the D Y Patil Stadium Mumbai. Sachin, who was doubtful to play because of the stitches in his hand, came down to the toss for the match and the packed Stadium went ecstatic.  (more…)

Deccan Chargers had won the last five encounters consecutively and the law of averages finally caught up with them. A fine bowling display by Doug Bollinger enabled Chennai to enter the final of the IPL-3.

MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat on Thursday in the Second Semi final between Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers played at the Dr. D.Y.Patil Stadium Mumbai. Dhoni had judged that the pitch would help the pacers now, and would take spin later. But his gamble did not initially work out as his batsmen failed to deliver the goods one after another and went back to the pavilion in quick succession. 

Mathew Hayden and Murli Vijai opened the innings for Chennai and three regulation catches were dropped in the first five overs. Despite this lapse on the apart of Deccan, Chennai were a pathetic 50 for 3 after 8 and and at the half way mark were at 62 for the loss of 3 wickets. (more…)

M.S.Dhoni slammed 54 (not out) which enabled Chennai Super Kings to beat Kings XI Punjab by six wickets in a nail-biting finish. Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala on Sunday. Battiing first, Kings XI Punjab opened the innings with Jayawardane and Marsh. Jayawardane was out for 21   runs at the score of 34 for 1. He had hit 2 fours and two sixes.

Sangakara came in to bat and joined Marsh at the crease. Together they took the score to 90 for 2.  Sangakara was out after scoring 33 runs off 24 balls which included 5 shots to the fence. Yuvraj did not last long and was lbw bowled Raina for 1 run.

Shaun Marsh and Irfan Pathan played some incredible shots and took the score to 192 for 2. Marsh scored 88 runs which included 8 fours and 5 sixes and his bravado was a treat to watch. Irfan Pathan gave him adequate support at the other end and scored 44 runs punctualted 4 fours and a six. They added 99 runs for the fourth wicket off only 48 balls. (more…)

Chennai Super Kings Bt Kolkatta Knight Riders Chennai Super Kings were very pleased to reach a fighting score of 164/3 in their 20 overs at the Eden Gardens Kolkatta. It was a pretty slow start as they lost some big wickets early on. Vijay and Raina got off to a start but departed soon. Both MS Dhoni and Badrinath then took over the task of rebuilding the innings and added an unbroken 109-run stand from 65 balls and they took their score to a fighting level at 164/3.

 Dhoni (66* off 33) and Badrinath (43* off 33) added 109 runs for the fourth wicket hitting some big shots towards the end. Kolkata started off well with their bowling attack but could not stop these batsman from scoring big in the final overs. (more…)

In my yesterdays’ post I had said that cricket is the game of uncertainty. Virendra Sehwag , the fastest player in Test Cricket today, missed his third triple century by 7 runs. One can make 293 but those 7 precious runs are sometimes very illusive. This is called unpredictability of cricket. Had he achieved it, he would have been the only batsman in Test history to establish the world record.

Although Virender Sehwag narrowly missed it, there was no respite for the Sri Lankans as the Indians rattled up their highest-ever total in Tests before declaring at 726 for nine at the end of the third day. (more…)

India won the toss and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted to bat at the commencement of the first test match being played at Ahmedabad. But only after a half an hour into the proceedings, Indian players tails were no where to be seen – forget wagging. They were 32 for 4. Three wickets fell to the speedster Chanka Walegeda and all the three batsmen misjudged the in-swing deliveries and were clean bowled. The sound of the timber rattling time and again was nerve wrecking. At that moment it appeared that India had already lost the test match in the first hour itself. (more…)