World Of Cricket

Chennai: India takes 1-0 lead over Australia after beating them in the first test quite convincingly.

Dhoni scored 224 runs his highest test score © BCCI

India starts the test series with a win over Australia. Ashwin and Dhoni were their main contributers. Ashwin grabbed 12 wickets in the match whereas captain cool played innings of his life as he scored over 200 runs for the first time in his career.

For Australia Michael Clarke and Henriques who was also making his debut performed well. Australia made 380 runs in the first innings with the help of Michael Clarke’s brilliant century. India in reply lost 8 for 406 and after that one of the best partnership started as Dhoni and Kumar calmed their nerves. For India Virat Kohli scored century  whereas Dhoni scored double century.

Australia failed to score in their second innings only Henriques could score some runs and took Australia to 240 Ashwin was again the pick of the bowlers as he bagged 5 wickets.

India only wanted 50 runs to win and they won it easily by 8 wickets. Australia will have to make some improvements before going into the next game. The spinners Ashwin in particular proved a key player for India and Australia will have to play spin well if they want to equal the series.

Chennai: Micheal Clarke’s century helped Australia to score 316 runs on first day of the test match. Ashwin took 6 wickets but he did not get support from other bowlers.

Australian on top despite Ashwin’s six wickets

Australian captain Micheal Clarke won the toss and choose to bat at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. David Warner scored 59 runs but despite of that Australians were 153-5 at one stage. Micheal Clarke and Henriques played well for 151 runs partnership. The wicket was not easy and there was a turn on pitch and Indians played with 5 bowlers, 3 spinners and 2 pacers. Micheal Clarke played well against spinners and scored a century and he is still at the crease scoring 103 runs.

Ashwin took 6 wickets but no one from the other end supported him.Catch was dropped from Virender Sehwag and stumping chance was also missed by MS Dhoni. When Micheal Clarke was on on 39 runs, he was not given out by empire as he was clearly out. He would have been out 0n 39 runs if there was DRS in this match. Australia is in a good position at the moment as Michal Clarke is still at the crease. Australians are in a position from where they can put pressure on Indians. MS Dhoni has to come with better plans t get Australia out as early as possible.

Chennai: First test between two strong opponents India and Australia will start on Friday. It’ll be a contest between Indian batting & Australian pace bowling.

Sachin Tendulkar will be a key

Big series between two best teams Australia and India will start on Friday. Indians who faced clean sweep in the series against Australia in Australia will be looking for revenge. It is certainly a very important series for both the captains Micheal Clarke and MS Dhoni. The opening match of the 4 match series will be played on Chennai stadium. Both the teams are balenced and are in a good shape. It will be a fight between Australian pace bowling and Indian batting.

India-A batted well against Australia in the warm-up game. It will be interesting to see nature of pitches and it is expected that pitches will be either batting or will support spinners. India has very good spinning options and in the presence of Harbhajan Singh their spinner attack seems to be very good. It is expected that Indians will go for 2 spinners and 2 pacers while Australians will go for 3 pacers and Shane Watson can also bowl. So it will be a very good series and crowd will see an exiting cricket.

Dhaka: Bangladesh delivered an upset 5-wicket defeat to India. The remarkable 100th international century of master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar went in vain.

Bangladesh defeated India after 5 years © AFP

Bangladesh won the toss and decided to field first. Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar started the innings, India lost their first wicket at 25 when Shafiul Islam bowled Gambhir (11).

Virat Kohli then came in and supported Tendulkar in his art work. Both played really good looking shot, specially the ‘little-master’ was looking in great touch.

Kohli (66) after making 2nd wicket partnership worth 148 with Tendulkar got out to Abdur Razzaq in the start of 3rd powerplay. Suresh Raina was promoted up the order to use the powerplay as the score of India was 173/2 in 35.5 overs.

Sachin reached to his 100th international century in 44th over by taking single; his team-mates, fans were on the feet, Bangladeshi fielders congratulated him and he raised his bat to acknowledge the praise. It was not only a proud moment for India but also for Cricket. It is a milestone which may never be achieved again.

In the 47th over, Mashrafe Mortaza first sent Raina (51) back in the pavilion and then sent legend Tendulkar back. The master scored 114 off 147 balls and struck 12 FOURS & 1 SIX.

Rohit Sharma (4) didn’t last long, he was undone by a beautiful throw of Nasir Hossain. MS Dhoni added 21 runs and remained not-out with Jadeja (4).

India with the accomplishment of Sachin mounted a huge score of 289 in 50.0 overs and lost 5 wickets. Mortaza took 2 wickets, Shafiul Islam and Abdur Razzaq took 1 wicket each.

Tamim & Nazimuddin started things for Bangladesh. Team India received gift when Nazimuddin skied one ball high up in the air and Rohit took an easy catch.

Jahurul Islam who was playing his 8th ODI played a good knock with Tamim, both showed their aggressive intent and raised a partnership of 113 runs. Jahurul after making his 1st international fifty got out to Jadeja.

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Young batsman Nasir Hossain came in but then settled Tamim Iqbal got out after making 70, he gave a good platform to the follow-up batsmen. Old captain and one of world’s best all rounders; Shakib Al Hasan joined Nasir in Bangladesh’s interest.

Both took Indian bowlers on their target and nailed them. World Of Cricket never witnessed such hard hitting from Bangladesh before.

After scoring 49 off 31, Shakib got out to Ashwin, he was given stump-out, replays showed that his one foot was out of the line, one was on the line and the line belongs to the 3rd umpire who gave Shakib out.

It was a good and important breakthrough for India but they never what is coming next. Bangladeshi captain Mushfiqur Rahim hit 2 consecutive Sixes to Irfan Pathan in 48th over, then a FOUR & a SIX in the next over to Parveen Kumar which took the game completely away from India.

Nasir Hossain skied one in greed of ending the game in style and was caught out as 2 runs were required off 8 balls. In the next over, new batsman Mahmudullah hit FOUR to win the game.

He embraced Mushfiqur Rahim and the other Bangladeshi players from the pavilion ran out to celebrate their outstanding victory. Bangladesh scored 293/5 in 49.2 overs to win the game. Parveen Kumar took 3 wickets for 56 in 10 overs, Ravichandran Ashwin & Jadeja took 1, 1 wicket.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was honoured with souvenir by Bangladesh Cricket Board, it was presented by its president Mustafa Kamal.

Last time when Bangladesh defeated India was 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup (West Indies) [March 17, 2007], it was also a 5-wicket victory and was also a group match, India was bowled out in it for 191 and Bangladesh chased it successfully in 48.3 overs.

This victory of Bangladesh will keep the tournament alive, Pakistan who is on top of the group with 9 points can still find itself in a problem as India is at no.2 with 4 points and Bangladesh is at no.3 with 4 points (positions are different because of run-rate). India will face Pakistan in the next match on March 18, 2012 and Bangladesh will face Sri Lanka on March 20, 2012.

HQ Photo Gallery: Click here and enjoy the photos from the match.

Result: Bangladesh won by 5 wickets.

Man Of The Match: Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh).

Mumbai: Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) announced squad of India for the Asia Cup 2012 which will start from March 11, 2012 & will feature Bangladesh, Pakistan & Sri Lanka.

India: MS Dhoni will be the captain & Virat Kohli will be the vice-captain in Asia Cup 2012 © Associated Press

The selection committee has dropped/axed/rested Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav & Parthiv Patel. Yusuf Pathan & Ashok Dinda will make their comebacks.

Virat Kohli has been named vice-captain after his impressive run in the ODI’s for India, he was the highest run-getter in this format in 2011. He is also the leading run-scorer in the ongoing ‘Commonwealth Bank Series’, his last masterpiece was witnessed in the 11th game of CBS when he screwed Sri Lanka by scoring 133 runs off 86 balls & wrapped-up the game in 36.4 overs.

38 years old, Sachin Tendulkar who scored 143 runs in the 7 matches during his 1st 50-over assignment after the world cup is also selected for the Asia Cup. He’ll indeed search for his 100th hundred.

Chairman of selection committee Kris Srikkanth said: ”The selection committee and board feels that Virat Kohli could be good future captaincy material,”

“Unfortunately Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan have been asked to take rest by the physiotherapist. It is purely on injury grounds both have been rested,” he said. “I can assure you that nobody has been dropped.”

The CB series is also the only ODI series the injury-prone Zaheer has been involved in since the World Cup. The decision to rest him and Yadav opened the doors for Dinda, who last represented India in the previous edition of the Asia Cup, in 2010. His selection comes on the back of a successful Ranji Trophy, in which he was the second-highest wicket-taker with 37 in six matches. Several other contenders for a fast bowling slot, including Varun Aaron and Sreesanth, are still recovering from injuries.

Allrounder Yusuf has recovered from a knee injury which cut short his Ranji season, and will resume his battle for the No. 7 allrounder’s slot with Ravindra Jadeja.

Among the fringe players, India have retained batsman Manoj Tiwary and legspinner Rahul Sharma, but have axed backup wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel.

India are defending champions of the Asia Cup, which will be held in Mirpur from March 11 to 22 and also features Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Squad of India for Asia Cup:

MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virat Kohli (vice-capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Rahul Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Ashok Dinda.

Adelaide: The sensational match between India & Sri Lanka tied because of the hunger to win. MS Dhoni was named ‘man of the match’ for leading the team in an attractive manner.

MS Dhoni swings down the ground again © Getty Images

Sri Lanka won the toss & decided to bat first. They lost Tharanga once again in the 1st over who isn’t in form. Ex-captains Dilshan & Sangakkara added 28 runs together, then Dilshan (16) got out at the ball of Irfan Pathan.

Talented Dinesh Chandimal came in to lift the moral of his team but in 20th over, Sangakkara (31) left him after getting out to Ashwin. The score of Sri Lanka was 79/3 & now the time was arrived for Sri Lankan skipper Jayawardene to perform & to take his team out of this trouble.

It was the patience of Jayawardene which helped Chandimal in playing 91-ball innings, after making 4th-wicket partnership of 94 runs, captain (43) got lbw to Vinay Kumar.

Couple of overs later, Chandimal got run-out because of Mathews who ran for a run after playing the ball in front of short-cover, Rohit threw the ball sharply to Dhoni who in no time removed the bails. It was once again a good display of talent by 22 years old Chandimal, he scored 81 runs off 91 balls (6 FOURS & 1 SIX).

After his return, no one stood hard enough for Sri Lanka to take it to a good total. Mathews got out for 17 & Kulasekara for 12. Senanayake tried to be a force by hitting 3 FOURS & scoring 22 runs off 14 balls but he ran out of balls.

Sri Lanka scored 236/9 in 50.0 overs. 3 batsmen of Sri Lanka got run-out. From the Indian side; Vinay Kumar took 3 wickets, Ravichandran Ashwin took 2 wickets & Irfan Pathan took 1 wicket.

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For chasing the target, Gambhir & Tendulkar opened the innings of India, Sehwag was dropped because of rotation policy. Sri Lanka succeeded in dropping first blood of India when they removed little master Sachin Tendulkar at 15.

Virat Kohli was the next one to go when he was given lbw out at the ball of Perera. Wickets of India kept tumbling as India’s young guns Sharma & Raina also got out in no time at the score of 15 & 8 respectively.

India was smelling defeat but then their captain MS Dhoni came to rescue. Surprisingly, 30th over was a 5-ball over, umpire thought that Malinga bowled all 6 balls.

Dhoni was dropped in the next over by Perera on his own ball. Both batsmen fought the battle hard & raised a partnership of 60 runs off 79 balls but then Gambhir got run-out. Still 58 runs were required & 57 balls were in the bank.

But the lower order refused to help Dhoni in his cause. Jadeja got out for 3, Ashwin for 14, Pathan for 8 & Vinay for 1. 4 runs were required off last ball & Dhoni was on the strike.

Malinga fired it full & wide but Dhoni some how made the connection to scoope it over extra cover. Senanayake at sweeper cover cut it off and parried it to Kulasekara who fired the throw, that gave India enough time to take three, the players checked that the batsmen ran one run short, but in the end it was all good.

The match was tied, no one was believing. Who said ODI’s are dead? Dhoni remained not-out at 58 (69 balls, 3 FOURS & 1 SIX) with Yadav at 0. 4 Indian batsmen were run-out.

India scored 236/9 in 50.0 overs. Malinga & Perera took 2, 2 wickets whereas Nuwan Kulasekara took 1 wicket.

Trivia & Stats:

Statistics made this match historic. For the first time in a single match both teams:

– scored same number of runs (236).

– lost same number of wickets (9).

– faced same number of overs (50).

– bowled same number of maidens (2).

– gave same number of extras (8).

– hit same number of FOURS (15) & SIXES (2).

– lost their 5th wicket at same score (178).

– lost their 6th wicket at same score (184).

– wicket-keepers took same number of catches (2).

– took same number of lbw’s (1).

HQ Photo Gallery: Click here to see the action in frames.

Result: Match tied.

Man Of The Match: MS Dhoni (India).