Archive for India
Pune unable to chase down 182 victory target
Posted by: | CommentsVirat Kohli hit an innings of 67 on Friday as Royal Challengers Bangalore scored a 26-run victory over Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League.
Chasing 182 for victory, Pune made 155-5 with Jesse Ryder top-scoring with 51 off 34 balls.
Earlier and batting first after losing the toss, Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan put on 57 in just over six overs before Rahul Sharma dismissed them both in successive overs. Kohli and AB de Villiers then added 66 before Alfonso Thomas dismissed the latter after he made 26.
Kohli needed just 36 balls to reach his 50 and together with Saurabh Tiwary managed to hit three sixes and a four from Jerome Taylor’s next over.
Kohli (67 off 42 balls) holed out in the deep off Thomas in the next over, but the Pune bowlers could not prevent Bangalore compiling 181-5.
Delhi undone by Tiwary as Knight Riders winDelhi undone by Tiwary as Knight Riders win
Posted by: | CommentsManoj Tiwary’s 61 ended up being enough for the Kolkata Knight Riders to defend their 148-7 and beat the Delhi Daredevils by 17 runs in the Indian Premier League.
Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag produced a typical flying start to thrill the home crowd but he could only make 34 before he was sent back to the hutch.
Venugopala Rao and Yogesh Nagar threatened a revival when they hit 38 runs between them for the seventh Delhi wicket, but they could not quite pull it off.
Kolkata spinner Iqbal Abdulla’s deadly spell yielded figures of three for 25 to stop the hosts from gaining any real momentum as they could reach just 131-9 to fall short.
Sent in to bat first, the Knight Riders struggled to amass an imposing total in the face of controlled bowling by the host seamers.
Delhi rule with Sehwag and Warner in run-fest
Posted by: | CommentsOpeners Virender Sehwag and David Warner both smashed brisk half-centuries to propel Delhi Daredevils to a 29-run victory over Kings XI Punjab. India star Sehwag and aggressive Aussie Warner both scored 77 as Delhi posted a mammoth 231-4 – their highest-ever IPL total – in Delhi.
Thanks to a brilliant 46-ball 95 from Shaun Marsh, Punjab did not die wondering in response, finishing on 202-6.
Bowling first after winning the toss, Punjab watched on in disbelief as both Sehwag and Warner punished the bowlers with disdain and put on 100 by the ninth over. By then Warner had brought up his 50 off 29 balls with the help of three sixes and six fours. Sehwag reached the mark a couple of overs later but one fewer than Warner took.
The Delhi captain then hit a trio of sixes off David Hussey to move to 77 off just 35 balls, but the Australian all-rounder had a brief respite when Sehwag holed out to deep mid-wicket. But at 146-1 in 11.4 overs, the platform was set for the first 200-plus total of the tournament, and Warner, who was quietened amid Sehwag’s onslaught, then took charge.
The left-hander added 18 with Yogesh Nagar (11) and 15 with Venugopal Rao, before holing out to deep mid-wicket off Praveen Kumar for a 48-ball 77. Rao (28no off 15) and Naman Ojha (19no off eight) then blasted 47 off the last three overs to bring up the massive total.
Chasing 232 for victory, Adam Gilchrist and Marsh kept Punjab in the hunt even though Paul Valthaty (14) failed to repeat his earlier heroics. The Australian pair added 72 off just 39 balls but Varun Aaron bowled Gilchrist for 42 off 33 balls through the gate to bring Delhi back into the game.
Kings win, Hussey rules
Posted by: | CommentsChennai Super Kings beat the Royal Challengers Bangaloreby 22 runs where Australian veteran Michael Hussey smashed 83 off 56 balls.
With Hussey building key partnerships of 51 and 45 with Murali Vijay (31) and Suresh Raina (29) respectively, Chennai made 183-5 -, and a second 51-run stand with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (22) at the close.
AB de Villiers top-scored for a misfiring Bangalore batting line-up with 64, but it was in vain as the Royal Challengers suffered their third straight loss of the tournament.
Hussey and Vijay capitalised on some poor bowling and fielding from Bangalore to launch the hosts to 51 inside seven overs.
Before departing to Ryan Ninan, and Raina (29 off 16) helped stretch the total to 96,Vijay smacked Johan van der Wath’s first over for 14 and swiftly moved to 31.
Hussey cut loose after Raina’s wicket, reaching 50 with two boundaries off Daniel Vettori as Chennai’s dominance and Bangalore’s fielding misery continued.
Eight-wicket win for Kings XI Punjab, Valthaty powers
Posted by: | CommentsOn Saturday, Paul Valthaty starred with both bat and ball to lead Kings XI Punjab to a thumping eight-wicket win over Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad.
after captain Kumar Sangakkara and Shikhar Dhawan had grabbed the initiative with their 75-run stand, Valthaty’s figures of 4-29 helped restrict Chargers to 165-8.
Valthaty’s impressive form then continued with the bat as he smashed eight fours and five sixes for his 75 off 47 balls and combined for 136 runs with skipper Adam Gilchrist, who scored 61 off 46 balls, to secure the win.
Deccan were lifted by Sangakkara and Dhawan as the duo gave Chargers a solid foundation after losing Sunny Sohal for seven.
Tendulkar honoured by Wisden
Posted by: | CommentsIt was announced by Wisden on Wednesday that Sachin Tendulkar has been named its Leading Cricketer in the World for 2010.
The Indian batsman, who helped his country win the World Cup on his home ground in Mumbai is the seventh recipient of the Wisden award.
He follows countryman Virender Sehwag in taking the honour, with the Test opener winning in each of the last two years.
Now 37 and in the 22nd year of his international career, Tendulkar made more than 15000 Test runs and fifty Test hundreds, including an unparalleled 50th overall, in 2010.
He is only one short of 100 international centuries, and last year also became the first to hit a one day international double-hundred.
Another win for Mumbai Indians
Posted by: | CommentsThere was no such hesitation shown by Mumbai in the chase. Every time Bangalore tried a new bowler, Tendulkar and Rayudu lashed out. When Abhimanyu Mithun was introduced in the sixth over, Tendulkar showcased his gorgeous straight drive, and Rayudu swatted a bouncer before creaming him through wide mid-off. When Tillakaratne Dilshan came on in the tenth over, Tendulkar deployed the slog sweep and the conventional sweep to collect more boundaries. When Asad Pathan was brought in the 12th over, Rayudu crash-pulled the first delivery to midwicket and when Virat Kohli returned for a second spell, in the 13th over, Tendulkar smote him to the straight boundary.
Sachin Tendulkar, the controller, and Ambati Rayudu, the enforcer, made short work of the below-par target set by Bangalore to give Mumbai their second successive win of the tournament. However, it was with the bat that Bangalore lost the game tonight. It was a strange innings as Bangalore were in consolidation mode for most of the time after they slipped to 19 for 2 and then meandered away to 140.
In comparison, Bangalore’s approach was completely lacking in intent. Tillakaratne Dilshan hit a half-century but it felt like an imposter was wearing his jersey. AB de Villiers made 38 but never looked like he would hurt the opposition. “It’s a difficult track to bat; there is spongy bounce and AB (de Villiers) and I thought 140 would be a good score,” Dilshan said at the end of the innings. He couldn’t have been more wrong, at least tonight.
Mumbai’s batsmen reserved their best for Zaheer Khan, whose awful night mirrored Bangalore’s in many ways. Davy Jacobs flat-batted the fourth ball of the chase for a stunning six over long-on, and sandwiched fours through the covers and long-off with a lovely whipped six in Zaheer’s next over. When Zaheer returned for a second spell, Rayudu cut him to the point boundary, slammed a full toss to midwicket and lofted him through long-on.
The ball didn’t appear to stop on the batsmen, there wasn’t any alarming turn but they struggled to get going. Mumbai’s night was set up by Lasith Malinga with a brute of a first ball. It was full, it was pacy and it curved away devilishly late, past a stunned Mayank Agarwal and knocked out off stump. Next, Malinga pinged Virat Kohli on the boot with another screaming yorker, but it was not given out. Kohli fell soon after, top-edging his trademark on-side heave to the keeper. It was the beginning of the crawl.
Dilshan tried to punch his way out of trouble but rarely found the timing or the gaps. de Villiers also played within himself and the pair started concentrating on singles. de Villiers fell in the 17th over, top-edging a slog against Pollard and that paved the way for Saurabh Tiwary to free his arms. He flat-batted Malinga over extra cover and heaved Harbhajan Singh to cow corner. Dilshan woke up in the last over to slap Malinga for six over midwicket as Mumbai finished on a mini-high but the target proved grossly insufficient.
Kirsten bids farewell with nostalgia
Posted by: | CommentsCoach of the World Cup-winning India team Gary Kirsten admits he is making a reluctant exit from his role. The former South Africa batsman had already announced that he would not be staying on when his contract expired at the end of the tournament. Many wanted him to remain in charge after the triumph and the 43-year-old said he turned down repeated requests from the Board of Control for Cricket in India to continue as coach.
But Kirsten has made it clear that he will be leaving, although he says that he found it extremely tough to walk away.
“Believe me when I say that this is one of the hardest of goodbyes that I ever had to say,” Kirsten said.
Kirsten was a surprise appointment in December 2007 but has led India to the world number one Test ranking as well as the World Cup crown.
“It’s been a remarkable journey over the last three years with Team India. This has been one of the most cherished experiences of my life,” he added.
India Flying high
Posted by: | CommentsMahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir guided India to World Cup glory on home soil, chasing down a target of 275 under floodlights in Mumbai for a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka.
After Mahela Jayawardene’s 103 not out from 88 balls underpinned a total of 274-6 at the Wankhede Stadium, Sri Lanka had appeared in excellent shape.
Lasith Malinga removed Virender Sehwag and local hero Sachin Tendulkar to reduce India to 31-2 in reply, before Gambhir took control of proceedings.The left-hander shared stands worth 83 with Virat Kohli (35) and 109 alongside Dhoni to turn the tide in the hosts’ favour. He missed out on a century, bowled for 97 after advancing to Thisara Perera, but a perfectly paced run chase was completed in the penultimate over by a huge six from Dhoni, who finished on 91 not out.
India’s triumph ended a 28-year wait to add a second World Cup victory to their inaugural success in 1983, while Sri Lanka, the winners in 1996, have now lost in the last two finals.
Indian Skipper hails team effort
Posted by: | CommentsMahendra Singh Dhoni, India captain deflected praise onto his squad after picking up the man-of-the-match award in the World Cup final.
Dhoni hit 91 not out as India overhauled a target of 275 for a six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, which he sealed with a six in the penultimate over.
India, tournament co-hosts along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, had tied with England and lost to South Africa in the group stage.
But it all came together in the knockout rounds as three-time defending champions Australia and Pakistan were defeated in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively.
And India’s second World Cup triumph, 28 years after the first, was completed in front of their own fans at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
Dhoni also explained his decision to promote himself above Yuvraj Singh to number five in the batting order in the final.
