Category Archives: India

Preview: India Vs West Indies

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Match Details

Group E| Super 8

Date: June 12, 2009

Time: 10:00 PM IST

TV Coverage: On Star Cricket in India

Venue: Lord’s, London

Playing Conditions

Weather: High: 19°C, Low: 11°C, Partly Cloudy, Mostly Bright, Humidity: 52%

Teams Form

In chronological order from left to right

India: WLLWW

India registered comfortable wins against Bangladesh and Ireland at the group stage but today is the big first test of the tournament for them. With Zaheer coming back to the form, Indian team looks very complete and the formidable batting order adds on to opposition’s worry.

West Indies: WLWWL

West Indies is as predictable as ever in the recent times. If it is Gayle’s day, he can win any match on its own. Bravo had a good time in the IPL and is capable of playing winning knocks.

Team News

India

Rohit has filled in Sehwag’s place pretty nicely and there seems to be no problems as such at the top of the order. Dhoni continues to stick to the 3rd position to play an anchor’s role, while others to follow him can hit big boundaries.

There have been ups and downs with the Indian fielding. Dhoni has shown his concerns in this area and scope of improvements. Bowling in the death overs is again an area where Dhoni needs to give a serious thought.

West Indies

Gayle is slotted to be back in the team in today’s match after he missed out playing against Sri Lanka.

Lendl Simmons, who was included as Gayle’s replacement, impressed all with his bowling and batting against Sri Lanka. Team management would like to keep him in the playing eleven in today’s match.

Possible Eleven

Looks like Dhoni will stick to the team that won both the group matches. Though Irfan Pathan looks like a weak link in the bowling attack but his ability to score quick runs in the death overs brings in good balance to the team.

India

  1. Gautam Gambhir
  2. Rohit Sharma
  3. MS Dhoni (capt./wk)
  4. Suresh Raina
  5. Yuvraj Singh
  6. Yusuf Pathan
  7. Irfan Pathan
  8. Harbhajan Singh
  9. Pragyan Ojha
  10. Zaheer Khan
  11. Ishant Sharma

Preview: India Vs Ireland

clip_image002Match Details

Group A | Match No 12

Date: Jun 10, 2009

Time: 10:00 PM IST

TV Coverage: On Star Cricket in India

Venue: Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Playing Conditions

Weather: High: 15°C, Low: 8°C, Mostly Cloudy, Humidity: 94%

Teams Form

In chronological order from left to right

India: LWLLW

India has already qualified for the Super8. Although there is no significance of this match on the rest of the tournament but India would not like to give away this match. They will be looking to try out the bench and also give some rest to the members who have recently recovered from an injury.

Ireland: WWWNW

Ireland has already qualified for the Super8 and they have nothing to lose in this match. They have not lost any T20 International matches that they have played so far. However, 138 is the highest total that they have managed in any T20. Playing against the world champions could be the real test of their skills.

Team News

India

Sehwag has been ruled out of the tournament due to a shoulder injury. Dinesh Kartik gets a chance to replace him. India would be missing Sehwag in the Super8 where it faces stiffer competition from West Indies, England and South Africa.

Gautam and Rohit have been handling their job well at the top of the order and Dhoni need not worry about that. The middle order could be one thing where Dhoni would be using his own ideas deciding who goes in to bat. I would personally like to see Yusuf Pathan getting a free license today to hit the balls out of the ground.

Ireland

The heroes of the match against Bangladesh – O’Brien brothers to hold the key to the team’s performance. Niall O’Brien scored 40 off 25 balls in the early part of the innings while Kevin O’Brien scored 39 off 17 in the end confirming the win against Bangladesh.

Possible Eleven

Looks like Zaheer will be asked to rest in this game. Sehwag has been ruled out of the tournament and it is less likely that Dinesh will be available for today’s match.

Dhoni might give chance to Ravindra Jadeja and might try to play with only one specialist spinner.

India

  1. Gautam Gambhir
  2. Rohit Sharma
  3. Suresh Raina
  4. Yuvraj Singh
  5. MS Dhoni (capt./wk)
  6. Yusuf Pathan
  7. Ravindra Jadeja
  8. Harbhajan Singh /Pragyan Ojha
  9. Irfan Pathan
  10. Praveen Kumar / R P Singh
  11. Ishant Sharma

India’s Graphical Fantasy Cricket: Create your Dream 11 with Dream11.com

image For all you cricket enthusiasts… here’s your chance to choose your favorite cricketers, create your dream 11 and earn some points!

Dream11 Gaming Pvt Ltd recently launched Dream11.com – the first graphical fantasy cricket game in India,  conceptualized to provide cricket lovers with an exceptional fantasy cricket experience.

With the buzz around the T20 World Cup, you could make the most of cricket by creating your team of the cricketers you love from across the world and earn points depending on how those cricketers perform in real life matches.

Manage your virtual team with features like:

  1. Live scores
  2. News updates
  3. Player profiles
  4. Statistics
  5. Standings

Things you could do:

  • You could compete with other Dream11 users for the top position on the leader board
  • You could challenge competitors as well as connect with friends over cricket using
    • Dream11 Web Messenger
    • Scraps
    • Other community features, etc.
  • There will soon be tools available to customize and personalize content on the home page.

Harsh Jain, founder, chairman and managing director says,

“Fantasy Sports is a huge market globally and considering the packed upcoming cricket calendar, we believe that the time is just right for Indian audiences to connect with fantasy cricket. We assure our users of the best ever fantasy cricket interface and pledge our commitment to constantly innovate in this category.”

Link: dream11.com

Preview: India Vs Bangladesh

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Match Details

Group A | Match No 4

Date: June 6, 2009

Time: 10:30 PM IST

TV Coverage: On Star Cricket in India

Venue: Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Playing Conditions

Weather: High: 27°C, Low: 17°C, Partly Cloudy

Teams Form

In chronological order from left to right

India: WLWLL

Last two T20 Internationals that India played were against New Zealand and they lost both the matches. After a big win in the warm up match against Pakistan, India is looking good for this match.

Bangladesh: LLLLL

They scored 206 against Netherlands in the warm up match and Australia piled 219 against them in another match. Their batting looks good in patches but bowling is the weak link.

Team News

India

There is still uncertainty over fitness of Sehwag and Zaheer to be in the playing XI for today’s match.

Rohit Sharma has impressed everyone with his knock in the warm up matches replacing unfit Sehwag.

Bangladesh

Shakib Al Hasan shall be the key player to watch out for from the Bangladesh side. He gave a fighting performance against Australia in the warm up match.

Possible Eleven

India

  1. Gautam Gambhir
  2. Rohit Sharma
  3. Suresh Raina
  4. Yuvraj Singh
  5. MS Dhoni (capt./wk)
  6. Yusuf Pathan
  7. Ravindra Jadeja / R P Singh
  8. Harbhajan Singh
  9. Irfan Pathan
  10. Praveen Kumar
  11. Ishant Sharma

Bangladesh

  1. Tamim Iqbal
  2. Junaid Siddique
  3. Mohammad Ashraful (capt.)
  4. Shakib Al Hasan
  5. Mahmudullah
  6. Raqibul Hasan
  7. Mushfiqur Rahim
  8. Mashrafe Mortaza
  9. Rubel Hossain
  10. Shahadat Hossain / Naeem Islam
  11. Syed Rasel / Abdur Razzak

‘Catch the Spirit’ – WT20 India vs Pakistan warm-up match

clip_image002The International Cricket Council (ICC) has designated the World T20 2009 warm-up match between India and Pakistan as a ‘Catch the Spirit’ match. The match is scheduled to be played at the Oval on June 3 from 10:00 PM IST.

‘Catch the Spirit’ highlights the respect with which the game is played around the world and is one of the themes of the ICC’s ongoing centenary year of 2009.

As per ICC media release, the funds raised by this match will go to support the families of the victims of the attack on the Sri Lankan team and match officials in Lahore in March.

Though, complete details are still not available but the funds will be raised primarily through requests for contributions from spectators inside the ground, appeal for donations from the spectators outside the ground via television broadcasts and internet coverage of the match and contributions from other parties having direct or indirect interest in cricket.
This stands out as a testimony of a great spirit that sport events can show to support a noble cause. I wish all the success to the organizers and hope spectators and cricket stakeholders across the globe contributes wholeheartedly during the match.

The match will be broadcasted live in India on TV on Star Cricket.

The Indian Squad for WT 20

india-cricket-teamThe young Indian team with an average age of 24.6 years looks pretty balanced and much stronger than the team that won the last title.

The suspense around Zaheer’s fitness and availability still continues. In case he is not able to join the squad, he could be replaced with Ashish Nehra who did well at this IPL or perhaps Munaf Patel. If Nehra is included in the squad, it will be his first international match after 2005.

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Though Sehwag and Gambhir seemed a little out of touch during the IPL, but they need just one match to get back into the demolishing form again and promise a solid fort at the top of the order. Part time bowlers have proved that they are more than a utility option and with any combination from the playing eleven, Dhoni will have a choice of 9 players whom he can ask to bowl.

No doubt, the defending champions will start their campaign being the tournament’s favorite!

Champions League to be held in October and this time with 12 teams!

clip_image002The Champions League Twenty20 tournament has expanded the participation window from 8 to 12 teams now. The additional teams will be the domestic champions from West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. India will now have the participation from the top 3 teams of the IPL.

Last year the first Champions League had been scheduled to feature two teams each from India, Australia, South Africa and England. However, it was later postponed after the terror attacks in Mumbai.

The $6 million prize money tournament will now be held from October 8 – October 23 in India.

  1. All 12 teams will be divided into four groups of three each to play on a league basis.
  2. The top two teams from each group will move on to the second stage.
  3. The four top teams from the second stage will play the Semifinals.

From India, the league topper Delhi Daredevils will participate along with the two finalists of IPL-2.

The teams for the Champions League include:

#

Team

From
1 Victoria Australia
2 New South Wales Australia
3 Cape Corbas South Africa
4 Eagles South Africa
5 Otago New Zealand
6 Trinidad and Tobago West Indies
7 Wayamba Sri Lanka
8 Deccan Chargers India
9 Royal Challengers India
10 Delhi Daredevils India
11 To be decided England
12 To be decided England

The two English teams will be decided after the domestic Twenty20 championship in August.

Gilli stunned Delhi and played as if playing in a Gully!

Deccan Charged UpPradip Sangwan’s body language was showing every fear of a rookie bowler bowling against a gifted player. Viru did a costly mistake to introduce him when Nannes was punished for five consecutive fours in the very first over.

Full credit goes to Gilli. He put all his experience of playing finals and winning them. He not only scored runs but killed opponents attitude to play the game to win from the very first over. Even Viru seemed confused when Gilli was in full flow. Only Nehra was looking confident and positive.

With the record of fastest fifty in IPL in just 17 balls, he is also having height strike rate and score (85). This player is unstoppable in full flow. This style of hammering down the ball was introduced by West Indians in early 70s. Richards, Lloyd, Sobers played with the hammer in hand. Recently, Lara had that magic in his bat. In late 80s and early 90s, Aussie era started and won three world cups. Gilli was integral part of the team and Aussies success.

Now, morals are charged up and opponents must be thinking of tightening the screws against him. Another Aussie making his mark with quick 24 in 15 balls was Symonds. A player out of Gibbs, Symonds, Rohit, Gilli and others with quick fire 40-50 runs can make 250+ runs possible. And yeah, this total seems very very difficult for any team in finals.

It’s all ifs and buts but, with such a stunning performance, Deccan Chargers has become strong contender for holding the shining IPL trophy.