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Pathan brothers lead team to Victory
Feb 11th
Colombo: On Tuesday India accomplished a successful tour with a breathtaking three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the only Twenty20 international.
Set target of 172 for win in 20 overs, India overcame a mid-innings fail to secure a spectacular win thanks to a dazzling eighth-wicket stand among brothers Yusuf and Irfan Pathan.
India slumped to 115 for seven after leg-spinner Malinga Bandara claimed 3 for 32, but the two Pathans rescued India with an steady 59-run stand in just 25 balls.
Irfan Pathan cracked an unbeaten 33 from 16 deliveries with two sixes and Yusuf stroked 22 not out off just 10 balls with the aid of two sixes and a four.
India, who also won the one-day series 4-1, clinched success with four balls to spare with Irfan swinging a massive six over mid-wicket.
Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain Tillakaratne Dilshan had previously top-scored for the hosts with 61 from 47 balls, an innings that incorporated seven fours and one six.
Dilshan was provided early support by fellow opener Sanath Jayasuriya, who smashed 33 from just 17 balls with two sixes, helping add 59 for the first wicket in 5.5 overs.
Off-spinner Yusuf Pathan was India’s best bowler, taking two for 23 from four economical overs in the middle of the innings.
India started their run chase poorly, slumping to 14 for two, but Yuvraj Singh (32) and Suresh Raina (35) regained the initiative with a 67-run stand.
Part-time off spinner Jehan Mubarak dragged Sri Lanka back into the game by showing Yuvraj pavilion.
Sri Lanka looked to be heading for victory as Jayasuriya bowled a miserable spell, taking 1 for 10 from three overs, as India crashed from 81 for 2 to 115 for 7.
Nevertheless, the Pathan brothers ended the match with a exciting partnership.
India replaces Australia, becomes ICC’s No 2 ODI team
Feb 7th
Dubai: India displaced Australia as the No 2 team in ICC’s ODI rankings after New Zealand defeated the world champions by six wickets in the second ODI in Melbourne.
India, who have made steady upward progress after winning nine consecutive ODIs, now has 122 rating points to be just three points behind top rankers South Africa. The Proteas recently climbed to the top of the table at Australia’s expense.
Australia (121) has been pushed to the third place while New Zealand follows on fourth rung with 117 points. Pakistan is further down the ladder at fifth while England and Sri Lanka are sixth and seventh respectively.
Australia, who have been on the decline in the last few months, have just about managed to retain their place as the number one team in the longer version of the game despite losing the Test series at home to South Africa.
South Africa and India are now the top challengers to Ricky Ponting’s team in both the versions. In ICC Test Rankings, Australia have 126 points while second placed South Africa is 121 and would get a chance to topple Australia when they take on Ponting’s men in a home series beginning later this month. India are third placed with 118 points.
The number one ODI team on April 1 will be richer by USD 175,000 with the runners-up getting USD 75,000.
Pietersen and Flintoff sold for 7.35 crore each
Feb 6th
Panaji: England’s star players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff became the most costly players of the Indian Premier League after being sold for a huge $1.55 million (appr Rs 7.35 crore) in the second edition, receiving Rs 1.35 crore more than what Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni got in the first edition.
The hard-hitting Pietersen, who was England’s captain till lately, was bought by Bangalore Royal Challengers while Flintoff went to Chennai Super Kings at the auction which was beamed live by nearly all television channels.
Bangalore Royal Challenger, who had ended at the bottom half of the high-profile League in the opening edition, used most of their total amount of $1.95 million on the extremely capable Pietersen who had base price of $1.35 million.
Flintoff, one more former England captain, expectedly got a good bidding and will now feature in the same team as Dhoni who is the captain of Chennai Super Kings.
Among other players first to be auctioned, Australia’s Shuan Tait was purchased by title holders of the inaugural edition Rajasthan Royals for $375,000 while forthcoming South African batsman Jean Paul Duminy went to Mumbai Indians for $950,000.
West Indian paceman Fidel Edwards was bought for his base price of $150,000 by Deccan Chargers. England’s Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood were bought by Delhi Daredevils for $275,000 each.
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi said that the contracts of all the auctioned players will be for two years.
Owner of Bangalore Royal Challengers Vijay Mallya said he was constantly keen to get the services of Pietersen as he would add value to the team.
“I was always keen to get Pietersen. He would be a superb addition to the team. We had a list of players before the auction and KP topped that list. We needed to strengthen our batting and I was prepared to pay more for him,” Mallya said.
“It is a worthwhile investment and ensure the balance that we wanted in our team”, he said.
South African all rounder Tyron Henderson was bought by Rajasthan Royals for $650,000 (appr Rs 3.18 crore), a enormous jump from his base price of $100,000.
Australian opener Phil Jaques went unsold alongwith South African batsman Ashwell Prince. Australian paceman Stuart Clark, who had a base price of $250,000 also failed to attract a buyer in the initial round of auctioning.
One more Australian Luke Wright also went unsold with the bidders not showing much interest on the Australians who were up for auction.
England all-rounder Ravi Bopara was bought by Kings XI Punjab for $450,000 (appr Rs 2.20 crore), far beyond his base price of $150,000.
New Zealand all-rounder Jesse Ryder was bought for $160,000 by Bangalore Royal Challengers while another Kiwis cricketer Kyle Mills was taken by Mumbai Indians for $150,000.
South African paceman Andre Nel went unsold. Sri Lankan paceman Nuwan Kulasekara also failed to make much of an impact with no team showing any interest on him.
With a total of $13.59 million in their pocket, the eight Indian Premier League franchisees have the option of buying 17 players from a pool of 50.w.
In the auction, 18 players from Australia, seven from England, five from Sri Lanka, three from New Zealand, seven from South Africa, six from West Indies and four from Bangladesh were up for grabs.
Chennai Super Kings have a spending limit of upto $two million for two slots, the Deccan Chargers $1.9 million for two, the Knight Riders $1.21 for one, the Kings’ XI Punjab $1.45 million for two, Mumbai Indians $1.76 million for three players, Rajasthan Royals $1.875 million for two and Bangalore Royal Challengers $1.945 for two slots.
Bangladesh paceman Mashrafe Mortaza went for 12 times his base price of $50,000.
In a fierce bidding war between King XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders, which lasted close to half an hour, the Shah Rukh Khan-owned outfit bought him for a whopping $600,000 (approx Rs 2.94 cr).
Knight Riders had made their concentration in Mortaza known even before the bidding.
The Aussies were once again unnoticed with their wicket-keeper Brad Haddin failing to find a buyer.
After the second round of auction, Modi said the number of unsold players has gone up this year because of the limited slots the teams have.
“More unsold players is a result of limited slots. The teams have just 17 slots to fill,” he said.
Kings XI stake-holder Preity Zinta said she badly wanted Mortaza.
“Mortaza is a great player, an all-rounder and we wanted him. But you win some, you lose some,” the Bollywood star said.
Rajasthan Royals stake-holder Shilpa Shetty was, on the other hand, was pleased to have to got the players her team required.
“We got what we wanted,” she said after Royals acquired Aussie pacer Shaun Tait and big-hitting South African all-rounder Tyron Henderson.
With help of Yuvi & Viru, India bagged the series
Feb 4th
Colombo: On Tuesday Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag scored centuries as a ruthless India won the five-match cricket series against Sri Lanka by beating the hosts by 147 runs in the third ODI in Colombo.
Electing to bat first, India rode on a 221-run stand for the third wicket involving Sehwag (116) and Yuvraj (117) to build up 363 for five, their highest score in Sri Lanka.
Chasing the huge total, Sri Lanka folded for 216 in 41.4 overs, in spite of Kumar Sangakkara’s rebellious 83 off 82 balls. Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha did the utmost damage to Sri Lanka, claiming 4 for 38.
India thus took an incontrovertible 3-0 lead in the series and both the teams will square off again here on Thursday for the fourth match.
The capacity crowd at the R Premadasa Stadium found the only solace when off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan impassive Yuvraj to equal Wasim Akram’s world record tally of 502 ODI wickets.
This was India’s highest total on Sri Lankan soil, leave back the previous best of 307 for 6 in 1998 at the same venue.
Chasing such a huge total, Sri Lanka badly needed a big knock from Sanath Jayasuriya but the veteran opener let the side down today.
He came dancing down the track to hit Praveen out of the park only to find Sehwag at mid-off.
Sehwag then bowled out Thilina Kandamby (10) and, in the next over, Pragyan Ojha cleaned up Chamara Kapugedera (2) to tighten the noose around the hosts.
Sangakkara did try his best but by then, it was too late and the Lankan tail merely didn’t had it in them to achieve such a staggering task.
Earlier, Sehwag and Yuvraj set the stadium on fire with some sparkling stroke-play as the duo stitched a record 221 runs for the third wicket.
Yusuf Pathan (59 not out) and Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35 not out) were the other prominent contributors for the visitors.
The twin centuries also broke a curse as no Indian batsman had hit a ODI century on Sri Lankan soil in the last 10 years.
Yuvraj’s 95-ball 117 contained as many as 17 boundaries and a six while Sehwag was equally ruthless in his 90-ball 116 which was studded with 17 boundaries.
The Punjab southpaw was adjudged man of the match.
Yusuf Pathan and Dhoni then provided the late sparks to the innings by using the long handle to overwhelming effect in the slog overs.
Sehwag and Yuvraj maintained a brisk scoring rate of over seven runs per over right through their partnership.
The Sri Lankan bowlers looked completely clueless against the rampaging duo. While the pacemen strayed down the leg side and bled runs, the two spinners — Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis — also failed to contain the run flow.
To make it worse for them, Jayasuriya missed Sehwag when the batsman was 73 and the slip proved expensive.
Yuvraj’s belligerence finally came to an end when he was caught by Jayawardene off Muralitharan. Sehwag soon joined him in the pavilion being run out off a direct hit from Jayasuriya.
But with Pathan and Dhoni milking runs at will, there was no break for the hosts.
India won by 15 runs, 2-0 lead in series
Feb 1st
Colombo: ‘Win the toss, win the match’ has been said by most winning teams in day-nighters here at R. Premadasa Stadium and India on Saturday was same. With the sea breeze blowing across the ground and with the aid of a slow pitch acting up under lights, India’s bowlers set up a15-run win over the hosts in the second of the five-match ODI series.
Middle-order batsman Thilina Kandamby (93 n.o., 129b) tried hard to put up a fight, playing the anchor’s role as he stitched together a 100-run stand for the third wicket with captain Mahela Jayawardena and then later opened up to help his side inch close to India’s 256/9.
But the target eventually proved too steep to mount and with Lanka needing 20 off the last eight balls, Kandamby could not find deal the killer punch. Lanka were all out for 241 with 3 balls to spare.
Ishant Sharma scalped 4/57, Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar — who replaced the injured Munaf Patel — took one each as the trio got the ball to zip around, creating a ridicule of the already stressed Lankan batting line-up.
India had been powered by one more intensive batting attempt led by Yuvraj Singh’s 66 (88 b, 7×4) and Virender Sehwag’s 46 (28b), and though the win gave them a 2-0 lead in the series, they looked a far cry from the team that had walloped Lanka in the first ODI. While one reason was the restricted fare dished out Muttiah Muralitharan and Farveez Mahroof in the middle overs and mistaken stroke play by some Indian batsmen, controversial umpiring decisions didn’t help either.
Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar (6, 9b) was adjudged plumb in front to a delivery that was drifting down the leg-side, Yuvraj was given out lbw in spite of edging the ball and early into the Lankan innings and Tillakartne Dilshan seemed to have got a feather to a Zaheer out-swinger enroute to Tendulkar at second slip. In the end, though, the circumstances evened out any benefit Lankans may have enjoyed.
The hosts were in problem from the start of their pursue with Dilshan not able to capitalize in the first over. He holed out to fine-leg going for the pull in the third with Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakarra following him back in the first powerplay.
Jayawardene and Kandamby stemmed the fall of wickets, but with the run rate climbing, there was no necessity in going for the boundaries. After the two fell, Lanka sustained to join until close to the end of the match.
Earlier, with Sehwag back in the fold in place of Rohit Sharma, the toss was a easy decision for Dhoni, though the start wasn’t the greatest. Nuwan Kulasekara was cracked over point for a boundary by Sehwag to get the ball rolling, but the fast bowler got back when he dismissed Tendulkar in his next over. Pitched on off, the ball jagged back in to hit the master blaster in front of the leg-stump, but the replays showed that it was drifting further down.
‘Angry’ Chappell says, not concerned about India
Jan 24th
New Delhi: Former India coach Greg Chappell reacted furiously to Virender Sehwag’s latest remarks that the Australian betrayed the faith of players and said he has decided to end all ties with Indian cricket.In a recent interview, Sehwag had said that Chappell had betrayed the faith of the players by leaking information to the media and selectors and that he was not comfortable with the Australian.
“I am not interested in India. Not interested in Indian cricket,” he was quoted by ‘cricdb’ website.
“You can check with Kiran More (what information I was sharing with him)”, Chappell said. Kiran More was the chief selector in most of Chappell’s tenure as coach.
“I am now not going to be associated with the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) also”, he said.
The RCA had hired his services for its academy in Jaipur as advisor. He had also been entrusted with the task of spotting and grooming Twenty20 talent by IPL’s Jaipur franchise, owned by Emerging media.
Chappell is now the new Head Coach of the Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence (COE) in Brisbane.
India’s Cricket tour itinerary to Sri Lanka revised
Jan 22nd
On Thursday the Indian board said, Sri Lanka have revised the itinerary for their home one-day series against India starting afterward this month.
Four of the five ODIs will now be played in Colombo with the second and third games delayed by a day.
The speedily arranged series fills the gap left by India‘s cancelled tour to Pakistan in the consequences of militant attacks in Mumbai last November.
Revised itinerary:
Jan 28 – First ODI at Dambulla
Jan 31 – Second ODI at RPICS, Colombo *
Feb 3 – Third ODI at RPICS, Colombo *
Feb 5 – Fourth ODI at RPICS, Colombo *
Feb 8 – Fifth ODI at SSC, Colombo
Feb 10 – Twenty20 at RPICS, Colombo *
* denotes day/night match
Energetic Dilshan helps Sri Lanka win by 465 runs
Jan 7th
Chittagong: Sri Lanka packed down Bangladesh by 465 runs in the second Test on Tuesday, recording the fifth utmost run margin to clear the series 2-0 thanks to a outstanding show by Tillekeratne Dilshan.
Dilshan, named Man of the Match and Man of the Series, emerged the doubtful bowling hero to rout Bangladesh for 158 after tea on the fourth day after helping his team set an unbelievable victory target of 624.
The 32-year-old followed his first innings 162 with 143 to turn out to be the fourth Sri Lankan to make a century in both innings of a Test as the guests declared on 447 for six at lunch.
Dilshan then grabbed four for 10 as Sri Lanka wrapped up their major victory in terms of runs, surpassing the 315-run margin against Zimbabwe at Galle in January 2002.
It was also Bangladesh’s heaviest beat, having mislaid by 329 runs to England at the same venue in October 2003.
“We were in trouble at times but the guys showed a lot of fight and character especially Dilshan in the first innings when we were 75 for four,” Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said.
“That is something we encourage the boys to do as best they can.”
Top scorer Shakib Al Hasan (46) was stumped by Prasanna Jayawardene to give Dilshan his first wicket and the spinner went on to mop up the Bangladesh tail.
RUN OUT
The innings broken when Mushfiqur Rahim (43) was run out 20 minutes before the scheduled close.
Leg-spinner Ajantha Mendis, who missed the 107-run first-Test win in Dhaka due to wound, pulled out three for 57.
Earlier, Dilshan emulated compatriots Duleep Mendis, Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva by striking two centuries in the same Test.
Resuming on 296 for four, Sri Lanka mislaid their first wicket of the day when Thilan Samaraweera fell for 77.
His dismissal ruined a 145-run stand for the fifth wicket but Chamara Kapugedera (59 not out) then put on 86 for the sixth wicket before Dilshan was bowled by left-arm spinner Enamel Haque jnr.
