England's march towards the number one ranking looks really strong as they are 2-0 up against India. This has led to a debate in the English press as to whether the Ashes winning England Team of 2005 was better than the current England Team. In my opinion both teams have a charm of their own. The team of 2005 looked much more fired up as they were playing their traditional rivals Australia.
The team of 2005 beat the undisputed number one to clinch the Ashes and the current team has given a fantastic challenge to the current holders of the top spot. The series against India isnt complete and we can only pass a judgment after the end of the series. The point to be noted is that the England Team of 2005 had won a Test series
What a sight it was to watch the towering West Indies fast bowlers dominate batsmen from world over. For years they were the most feared bowling attack going around as none of the batsmen like facing them. Curtly Ambrose was one of the feared bowlers. In an interview to The Hindu, he has expressed his disappointment at the decline of West Indies Cricket.
The West Indies boast of some of the greatest players ever to have played the game. Sadly, their legacy has not passed into any safe hands as West Indies have struggled over the years. Gone are the days when they walked around a cricket field as Kings.
Ambrose told The Hindu that there were mainly two reasons why there was a decline. “Two things have contributed to the
When India won the ICC World T20 2007 and followed it up with the Commonwealth Bank series win Down Under in 2008, Rohit Sharma became a well known figure in Indian Cricket. I remember his Coach and mentor, Dinesh Lad had said that Sharma would be ready for Test Cricket in two years.
Two years later, Rohit Sharma looked set for a Test debut against South Africa in Nagpur but injured himself minuted before the game. Although he was close to making his Test debut, he had not lived up to his early promise. The inconsistency continued but when he stroked two hundreds in the Zimbabwe series in June 2010 and followed it up with a decent Asia Cup, he looked on track. However, the inconsistency started again when India toured
Cricket fans from all over the world were amazed to find that Google Translate had concurred with the popular belief that "Sachin Tendulkar is God." What you have to do is go to Google Translate and type "Suresh Raina is God." Then translate that script to Serbian. You would get the Serbian Translation "Суресх Раина је Бог." Now copy this and paste it in the translation box and translate it back to English. The words "Sachin Tendulkar is God" will appear on your screens.
The website ibnlive.com reported that it is unclear whether it is a technical glitch or not. Nevertheless it has thrilled cricket fans from World Over.
Interestingly if you just type "Суресх Раина" then the translator detects the
The West Indies series is the most ideal opportunity for youngsters of Team India to make an impression. So far they have done pretty well as India won the T20 international and have taken a 2-0 lead in the ODI series.
It seems like an eternity since Parthiv Patel made his international debut. At 26, should we consider him as a youngster? Nevertheless, he has done well since he came back. Against New Zealand late last year he scored two consecutive fifties and in South Africa he batted with fluency as the others around him fell like a pack of cards. His keeping on this tour has been very good as he has gone unnoticed. As they say, when a keeper goes unnoticed, he is doing a good job behind the stumps.
Paul Valthaty, the Mumbai batsman took the world by storm during the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) season 4. He scored a total of 463 runs in the tournament and was in the race for the Orange Cap for quite some time. The show he put up was absolutely unexpected and considering the fact that he has not played a Ranji Trophy game so far, it was a stellar performance.
Wasim Jaffer, the Mumbai Ranji captain said that Valthaty needs to show more consistency to break into the the first class side. He has played a handful of limited overs games for Mumbai but hasnt played for them in the longest format. His IPL performance has got him recognition and he is now heading to Sri Lanka for the Sri Lanka Premier League
As the Second Test between England and Sri Lanka was moving towards a draw, two incidents just lit up the day. The first one was Alastair Cook's hundred and the second was the shocking incident of a window pane being broken to pieces allegedly by the bat of England keeper Matt Prior.
Nick Hoult reported for The Telegraph UK from Lord's "One lady associate member on her first visit to Lord’s was treated for a cut to her ankle and later received a personal apology from Prior and Strauss as England took the field for Sri Lanka’s second innings."
Initially there was speculation that Prior broke the window because he was run out but it was later played down. BBC reported Andrew Strauss saying "It was one of those
Sri Lanka were in a fantastic position after their Captain Tillakaratne Dilshan's magnificent hundred but the ghosts of Cardiff were back to haunt them. From 370 for 3 they collapsed to 479 to give England a slender seven run lead upon which Alastair Cook has laid a strong foundation for a big score. The only thing worrying England would be the weather which has washed out quite a few overs in this game.
Steven Finn and Graeme Swann were Sri Lanka's wreckers in chief as they picked up wickets in a heap. David Saker had expressed his disappointment at England's bowling show the previous day but would be a very happy man as his bowlers have improved England's chances of victory significantly.
When a team has to face an embarrassing defeat, the responsibility of the captain increases two-folds. He not only has to perform himself but also has to lift the morale of the team with motivational talks etc. But there is not better way to pep up a team than to put in a stellar performance and that is what Tillakaratne Dilshan did at Lord's.
Dilshan's innings of 193 was idiosyncratic of him i.e. high strike rate and full of flashy strokes. Considering the backdrop of this Test match, the innings becomes even greater. This is because it has come after an absolutely crushing defeat and has come from the blade of the captain. I think the innings is more than enough to motivate the other batsmen to put in a strong show and
What a great day it was at Lord's. Sri Lanka got off to a great start after being demolished by England on Monday. When they picked up three early wickets it looked like they really wanted to return the favor to England. The inclusion of Chanaka Welegedera and Dilhara Fernando has brought new life into their bowling attack. Both of them combined well with Lakmal to pick up wickets but four half centuries meant that England went up to 342 for 6 at the end of the day.
Steve James, the former England player wrote in his column in the Telegraph that the day was owned by England despite the Sri Lankan fight. He appreciated the effort by English batsmen and in particular Eoin Morgan who had to battle with Ravi Bopara for a spot
The Cardiff Test was heading towards a dull draw but all of a sudden Sri Lanka were bundled out by a motivated English bowling attack. When a team gets bowled out for 82, it does not do any good to the atmosphere in the dressing room. However, Tillakaratne Dilshan's job is to keep his men upbeat and this is what he is up to.
I read this article on The Telegraph UK where he said that his team have it in them to bounce back and give a great fight to England. This is what he had to say about the England team "You can see that they have been playing very good cricket the last few years. In the last six or seven months they have beaten Australia in Australia, and they have also beaten Australia here. But you can't say from this
England bundled out Sri Lanka for 82 in the first Test at Cardiff and shocked everybody with this win. The Test looked like meandering towards another dull draw as rain had eaten up one and a half days. Chris Tremlett and Graeme Swann bowled really well to demolish the Lankan batting.
I had written an article earlier stating that there are tough times ahead for Sri Lanka without Mutiah Murlidharan and Lasith Malings. Geoff Boycott in his column in The Telegraph UK stated "The Sri Lankan bowling looked innocuous and I am afraid they are going to have some very difficult times ahead without the retired Muttiah Muralitharan and Slinger Malinga. In the past Murali has bowled 40 percent of their overs, taken a huge amount of
Sachin Tendulkar has achieved almost everything the game has to offer with regards to batting records. However, the highest test score is something that has eluded him throughout his career. The record was held by Brian Lara when he scored 375 in 1994. In 2003, Mathew Hayden scored 380 vs Zimbabwe to steal the crown from Lara. However, a few months later against England again Lara reclaimed the record by scoring 400 not out.
Salim Durani, a former India player has said that he wishes to see Sachin score 400 and claim that record as well. Durani told NDTV in an interview that "Sachin has had an amazing career. He has broken every possible record in the book, and in fact has redefined the records in many cases. He won the
Mumbai Indians knocked out the Kolkata Knight Riders from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2011 by beating them in the Eliminator by four wickets. Mumbai looked in control throughout the game but Kolkata fought back whenever they were put under pressure. Kolkata were put in to bat by Mumbai and were quickly reduced to 20 for four. Ryan Ten Doeschate guided the Kolkata innings as he played a knock off caution and aggression to take his side to 147. In reply Mumbai started off with a bang as Aiden Blizzard gave them a rollicking start. He cleared the ground with ease as Sachin Tendulkar went about his business at the other end. Mumbai lost a few wickets but in the end it was always their game. Munaf Patel was awarded the man of
