Archive for January, 2011

SA WIN ODI SERIES

January 24th, 2011 by Ravi Matah | Posted in Sports   Comments Off on SA WIN ODI SERIES

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.Yusuf Pathan
 
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. (more…)

SA LEVEL ODI SERIES

January 22nd, 2011 by Ravi Matah | Posted in Sports   Comments Off on SA LEVEL ODI SERIES

 

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

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…)

INDIA BEAT S.A. 3rd ODI

January 19th, 2011 by Ravi Matah | Posted in Sports   Comments Off on INDIA BEAT S.A. 3rd ODI

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.Yusuf PathanSouth 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…)

INDIAN SQUAD WC-2011

January 17th, 2011 by Ravi Matah | Posted in Sports   Comments Off on INDIAN SQUAD WC-2011

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

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…)

IPL – AUCTION

January 13th, 2011 by Ravi Matah | Posted in Sports   Comments Off on IPL – AUCTION

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 DRAW SERIES

January 7th, 2011 by Ravi Matah | Posted in Sports   Comments Off on INDIA DRAW SERIES

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…)