India vs Pakistan: 1st T20I

The much awaited India v Pakistan series began yesterday. The traditional rivalry between these two team is what makes their matches so exciting. The matches almost define unpredictability in cricket! Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl first. Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane opened for India. They gave India a solid start. There was a flurry of boundaries which was well supported with singles. India made it to 77-0 before Rahane was dismissed by Shahid Afridi. Virat Kohli walked in. Gambhir took charge. India were going well till Gambhir was run out. Yuvraj Singh joined Kohli. Yuvraj smashed a huge six. Kohli was dismissed by Mohammad Irfan two overs later. MS Dhoni came in. He didn't contribute much and was dismissed for 1 by Saeed Ajmal. In came Suresh Raina. The innings didn't move and Yuvraj was dismissed very soon by Umar Gul. Rohit Sharma came in. India's sorrow continued as Raina was dismissed by Saeed Ajmal in the next over. The action didn't stop there as Sharma was run out in the next ball. Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvaneswar Kumar were the two new men at the crease. Jadeja was dismissed in the next over by Umar Gul. Ishant Sharma came in. He was dismissed on the next ball. Ashok Dinda came in. Finally, India scored 133 off 20 overs. Pakistan had to chase down a modest total of 134. India needed exceptional bowling. Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad opened for Pakistan. Pakistan had the worst possible start as they lost their first wicket in the very first over, thanks to Bhuvaneswar Kumar. Nasir Jamshed was replaced by Mohammad Hafeez. Shehzad was dismissed by Kumar in the third over. Umar Akmal walked in. He was dismissed in the same over by Kumar. India had managed to get a brilliant start. Shoaib Malik walked in. Hafeez and Malik consolidated the Pakistani innings. Both of them scored brilliant half-centuries. India needed a wicket. Finally, Hafeez was dismissed by Ishant Sharma. Kamran Akmal joined Malik. Pakistan need 16 off 17 balls. At the end of that over, Pakistan need 12 off 12. Ashok Dinda bowled the next over and took the wicket of Akmal. Shahid Afridi came in. 10 off 6. Adrenalin was pumping! Ravindra Jadeja bowled the over. The over started well. Pakistan needed 6 runs with 3 balls left. Malik was on strike. He hit a huge six and won the game for Pakistan! And thus, the thriller came to an end!

India vs South Africa

Both the teams were hoping for Australia to defeat Pakistan in the previous game. As Pakistan won, SA were out of the tournament. India had to win by a margin of 31 runs or with 4 overs to spare, depending on the outcome of the toss. South Africa won the toss and AB de Villiers elected to bowl first. This meant that India needed to post a big total to win by atleast 31 runs. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag opened the innings. The start was very slow and Sehwag didn't connect. Gambhir just hit one boundary before missing a delivery off Morne Morkel which went on to knock out the stumps. The lean patch continued for Gambhir. Virat Kohli came. He was back in the pavillion very soon as he edged ball by Jacques Kallis which was caught behind. This was a big blow on such an important day. MS Dhoni was expected to come in at this stage but he didn't promote himself in the order. In came Rohit Sharma. Sehwag was bowled in the next over by Robin Peterson. Yuvraj Singh replaced him. The Indian innings needed to accelerate as they were going at a  run rate of less than 7 runs. Yuvraj finally took matters into his hands. He hit some beautiful shots and it looked like India might make a respectable total. However, the Indians' joys were short lived as Yuvraj was dismissed by Morkel in the 10th over. He was replaced by Suresh Raina, a perfect finisher. Raina also made a good effort. Sharma was dismissed by Peterson in the 16th over. MS Dhoni finally came in. Dhoni took some time to fire. In the last two overs, Dhoni was alive and on fire. He hit  brilliant shots and got India to 152. The score was respectable enough to win but for a 31 run victory, it was hard work. India had a perfect start. Hashim Amla was dismissed off the second ball of the innings, all credit to Zaheer Khan. AB de Villiers came in. Despite the big blow, SA kept up the fight. However, a breakthrough came along soon. Kallis was dismissed by Irfan Pathan. Faf du Plessis came in. He began to threaten the Indian bowling. Finally, de Villiers was dismissed. JP Duminy came in. However, du Plessis did not rest. He went on smashing the bowlers. He was dismissed in the 13th over but it was too late. SA had already made it to 95. India were supposed to restrict them to 121 or less to qualify on NRR basis. Farhaan Behardien came in. Duminy was dismissed soon by Lakshmipathy Balaji. Robin Peterson came in. As SA made it to 121 the Pakistan cheered loud. The moment they made it to 122, there was a deafening noise. As for the Men in Blue and their fans, it was disappointment and dismay. However, the game was not over. Behardien was dismissed soon, followed by Peterson. Albie Morkel and Johan Botha were the new men at the crease. Botha was dismissed by Ashwin in the 19th over and was replaced by Dale Steyn. The 20th over was exciting. They needed 14 off 6. Balaji was hit for a six by Morkel. He was dismissed in the next ball. Morne Morkel came in. 8 off 4. A boundary was hit and SA were at 151. 1 run to level scores and 2 to win. For India it was just a wicket. Not that it mattered but they had to win all the same. Balaji did the job and dismissed Morkel. India won by a run. Had there not been the factor of a 31 run win, this would have been the most enjoyable win for the Indians in the tournament. Yuvraj Singh was MoM. Neither team qualified. This might be my last post for this tournament. I will be back in the CLT20 to post for all KKR matches and any other, if I watch them.






    Gambhir bowled!

Yuvraj Singh

Faf du Plessis

Lakshmipathy Balaji celebrates Morne Morkels wicket

India vs Pakistan

It was a must win game for the Indians. And what better than playing this crucial game against arch rivals, Pakistan! Pakistan won the toss and Mohammad Hafeez elected to bat first. After a disastrous first over, India got a breakthrough in the second one,credit to Irfan Pathan. Imran Nazir was dismissed. He was replaced by Boom Boom Afridi. It was essential that India dismissed him. The Pakistanis had overcome the early wicket quite easily. However, they received a huge blow when Lakshmipathy Balaji dismissed Afridi. Nasir Jamshed came in at the crease. Things didn't move for Pakistan. Few overs later, Jamshed was caught behind off a ball by Yuvraj Singh. Kamaran Akmal came in. He too was dismissed in a similar fashion off a ball by Yuvraj. Shoaib Malik came in. Malik tried to gather some momentum. However, he lost his partner Hafeez off a ball by Virat Kohli. Pakistan were down half the side within 10 overs. Umar Akmal came in.  Things were not getting better for Pakistan as the run rate wasn't accelerating. Finally, Virat Kohli was targeted in his second over. Finally, Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Shoaib Malik, who looked to threaten the bowling. Yasir Arafat replaced him. Akmal was dismissed soon by Ashwin. In came Umar Gul. A brilliant piece of fielding by Yuvraj in the next over brought about the run out of Arafat. Saeed Ajmal came in. They were dismissed in quick succession off balls by Balaji. Pakistanis put up a meagre total of 128. Only brilliant bowling could save them against the experienced Indian batting. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag opened for India. The drama began when Gambhir was dismissed in the 1st over by Raza Hasan. Virat Kohli came in. The two of them wasted no time in propelling India's innings. After some lusty blows and drop catches, Pakistan dismissed Sehwag. Afridi was the bowler. Yuvraj Singh came in. The two of them hit the ball perfectly and Kohli made 78 off 61 balls. The cut off for India to overtake Pakistan on NRR basis was to achieve the target within 16.4 overs. They just missed it by a ball or 2. Yet, India won convincingly against their arch rivals. No surprises, Kohli was awarded MoM. Group 2 is still alive and even now, any team can make it!









 










Afridi



Lakshmipathy Balaji dismisses Afridi













Gambhir dismissed by Hasan

Six! MoM Virat Kohli

Notice..

My apologies. I won't be able to write any detail about India v Australia as I didn't watch it. Yesterday was my birthday and I missed the game. And I do apologize me as I won't be able to write much about Sunday's match as well. I will try my best to keep the blog updated! Thanks for your support and co-operation and sorry!

India vs England

Going into this game,India were clearly not the favourites. Captain Stuart Broad won the toss and elected to bowl. Put into bat,it was necessary for India to post a total of around 180-190. Both the teams had already qualified for the Super 8s. This time India opened with Gautam Gambhir and strangely,Irfan Pathan. However, the experiment with Pathan didn't work as he was dismissed by Steven Finn in the third over. Virat Kohli came on the crease. The duo built a steady partnership and made full use of the powerplay. The run rate was going at more than 8. But towards the 9th over they began to slow down. Kohli was dismissed in the 11th over by Graeme Swann having made a good 40. Gambhir was joined by Rohit Sharma whose strength was the Twenty20 format. They went well and maintained the run rate. Gambhir who had been batting since the beginning was getting tired. His wicket fell in the 16th over off a ball by Steven Finn. In came MS Dhoni. At this point India needed to accelerate and put up a good total. The batsmen did exactly that. Rohit Sharma raced to an unbeaten 55 off 33 balls. Dhoni was dismissed in the last over by Jade Dernbach. Suresh Raina came in but had no opportunity to bat. Sharma and Dhoni had hit the ball brilliantly and scored 52 runs in the last 28 balls. India made a total of 170 which had seemed highly unlikely in the 15th over. Craig Keiswetter and Alex Hales opened the batting for England. England received a huge blow in the very first over when Hales was clean bowled by Pathan. Luke Wright came in and hit some good shots. However, he was back in the pavillion in the third over thanks to Pathan. Eoin Morgan came in. The next two overs had some big hitting from Kieswetter. Finally, the comeback man Harbajan Singh was brought into the attack. He lost no time in claiming Morgan. The score was 39-3. Kieswetter was joined by Jonathan Bairstow. He was walking back in the next over being dismissed off a ball by Piyush Chawla. Jos Butler came in. Two overs later Keiswetter was dismissed by Chawla. That was the end of the English hopes. Tim Bresnan came in. He was dismissed by Bhajji in the next over. Captain Stuart Broad joined Butler. Butler was dismissed two overs later, all credit to Bhajji. Graeme Swann came in. He was dismissed in the same over. The comeback man had claimed 4 wickets! Broad was joined by Steven Finn. Broad was dismissed in the next over by Ashok Dinda. Jade Dernbach joined Finn. Finn hit a few shots. Finally twenty runs later Dernbach was run out by Lakshmipathy Balaji. India won by 90 runs. This was England's lowest total in Twenty20s. There were many great performances contesting for the Man of the Match, all by Indian. Finally Harbhajan Singh was given MoM for his 4-12 in 4 overs. On the other hand, England,the defending champs, would like to put behind this miserable performance and concentrate on the Super8s stage.

Rohit Sharma hits a shot

Stuart Broad(c) bowls to MS Dhoni(c)

Bhajji dismisses Morgan

Irfan Pathan appeals and dismisses Luke Wright

India vs Afghanistan

The Afghans won the toss and chose to field first. This seemed to be quite an inexperienced decision as India had a strong batting line-up and could post a mammoth total. Gambhir and Sehwag began the game. The first over was quite uneventful except for a few wides. In the second over Afghanistan got a breakthrough. Gautam edged the ball and it went on to hit the stumps and that was that. Shapoor Zadran was the bowler. Virat Kohli came in. He played beautiful shots. However as it seemed that India had stabilized Zadran produced yet another beauty and Sehwag was caught behind. Yuvraj Singh came in. He hit a brilliant 6 but that is all that we can say. He was caught off a ball by Karim Sadiq. The score card read 68-3. Suresh Raina came in and it was necessary that India got a move on. The duo took it upon their shoulders to score a decent total. They went firing and were killing it. They were also helped by some dropped chances by Afghanistan. The Afgans dropped 4 catches and committed other errors on the field too. Finally, Dawlat Zadran got a breakthrough by dismissing Virat. A brilliant innings came to an end. Kohli scored 52 off 39 balls. Raina was joined by MSD. They continued to score runs steadily. Raina was dismissed in the 20th over by Mohammad Nabi. Rohit Sharma came in. Dhoni sealed the innings with a four and a six. India made a total of 159. The Afghanistan innings began with Mohammad Shahzad and skipper Nawroz Mangal. They stopped at nothing to hit boundaries. Their run rate was incredible. Just as they were settling in Lakshmipathy   Balaji took the wicket of  Shahzad. Mangal was joined by Karim Sadiq. Runs were coming at a steady rate. Yuvi was brought into the attack and he took a wicket off his first ball! Nawroz was given lbw. Asghar Stanikzai came in. But before they could do much Yuvraj dismissed Sadiq in his second spell. Mohammad Nabi came in at the non striker end. But one wicket wasn't enough for Yuvi. He dismissed Stanikzai off the next ball. Suddenly the pressure had lifted off the Indians. Samiullah Shenwari came in. He was dismissed in the next over by Ashwin. Half the side was down. Shafiqullah came in. But India's happiness was short-lived as Nabi began to punish the Indian bowlers. After 3 unfortunate overs Shafiqullah was given lbw off a ball by  Irfan Pathan.Gulbodin Naib came in. India heaved a sigh of relief in the 2 overs later when Nabi was dismissed. Ashwin was the bowler. Najibullah Zadran came in. He was run out in the next over. Dawlat Zadran came in. Gulbodin Naib was dismissed in the last over by Balaji. Shapoor Zadran came in at 11. Balaji ended the game in the next ball by dismissing Dawlat. Although,India won the game, Afghanistan won the hearts of the watchers by putting up a stiff resistance. The only department where they missed out was fielding. The Afghan team tells an inspirational story of a team playing in the division 5 rising up to this level. Keep going Afghanistan! You played brilliantly!

Gautam Gambhir dismissed!

Man of the Match, Virat Kohli

Yuvi bowls!

Danger man Mohammad Nabi

India win!

World Twenty 20

"It is the most amazing T20 yet!". Well that's exactly what the advertisements say. So now cricket fans wait for the action to begin. Now there will be the surge of patriotism, the desire to watch your country win. As for me I want to watch India becoming the Champions even in the shorter format. This will be the first Twenty20 WC that I will actually follow. My love for cricket (and Brett Lee!) began during the WC in 2011.   The shorter format ,as we know, is highly entertaining and loved but personally, I prefer ODI to T20. Nevertheless, as a cricket fan I also enjoy T20. It is a format that has led to innovation in the sport. New shots,balls and tactics are now being thought of due to T20. The tournament begins with a match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Now I would like you to share your opinions. Comment on this post about your feelings towards T20 and the upcoming WC. You can write about how you think T20 has affected the game. Have a favourite team? Write about it. Share your thoughts as to which team is going to win this Twenty20 World Cup. I say India! What about you??