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?? 

Spoilsports!

So rain played spoilsport in the first T20 between India and New Zealand. And in the second one my exams played spoilsport so I was unable to write! Well now next its straight in World Twenty20. Since I will be unable to watch all games I will only post about India's games.

Yuvi makes a comeback

The very strong and resilient Yuvraj Singh is going to make his comeback in the side today in the Twenty20 against New Zealand! It is going to be a great pleasure to watch him. Lets hope he has a brilliant innings!
Goodbye for now and do read my narration of the game!