Quick Updates : Pakistan Vs Bangladesh ODI# 5

This was the fifth match of the tournaments and both the teams had nothing to lose as they were out of the finals . Only thing left to play was the the PRIDE. Pakistan made 4 changes to their side . Difficult to rememeber the names . As a matter of fact, even Boom Boom forgot the name of the replacements . How Pathetic !! Bangladesh made the best change ever possible , they dropped CrashaFool, whose brainfreeze never melts. Afridi won the toss and elected to bat without hesitating because the lighting is poor at Dambulla. Indians haven't complained about the lights yet as they havent lost a match yet . So, Pakistan were off to a blazing start with a quick fire 50(38) by S.Hasan. Farhat played patiently and notched a half century to his credit . Malik,Amin and Shafiq got out quickly without doing any damage . Enter U.Akmal & Boom Boom, Bangladesh's fielders were made mere spectators . Afridi terrorized the bowling attack .The ball went screaming to the boundaries . Akmal supported him excellently from the other end . Afridi got his first 50 in 35 balls and his next 50 in just 18 balls ! Uuh that must have hurt the Bangla Tigers . He broke Jayasuriya's world record of 270 6's in ODI . While Jaya took 440+ matches , Afridi broke it in just 295 . His knock definitely demoralized the Bangladeshis . He departed after scoring 124(60). Cameos by Razzaq and Kamran at the end propelled the score to 385.Terrific hitting ain't it ? Tamim and Kayes took strike for Bangladesh and Tamim,as usual BANG BANG BANG OUT!. Scored 34(27) and got out . Kayes and Siddique put on a P'ship which should be awarded the "THE BEST TEST PARTNERSHIP IN AN ODI". They never showed any intent of chasing down the score . They were happy rotating the singles , defending the balls . They seemed to be on a mission " COME WHAT MAY , WE ARE NOT GIVING OUR WICKETS AWAY!" and it was a perfect execution. They were so much keen on not losing wickets that they even forgot to score . Imrul Kayes scored a boring 66(110) . Siddique , never deserved a century and rightly so, got out on 97(114).Even after that , no batsman showed an intent to reduce the margin of victory . They managed to score 47 of the last overs .Not to forget Pakistan's sloppy fielding , dropped chances and missed run outs . According to Bangla, they had successfully drawn the test , but then reality is  that Pakistan won by 139 runs . MOM was undoubtedly Shahid Bhai for his blitzkrieg . Right then, Pakistan however finished on III place . The next match is a rehearsal for the finals . India play Lanka in  the last league match and then meet them again at the finals . Wonder, if they arent bored playing against each other for atleast half an year , every single year. :)

Match Summary


Pakistan 385/7
Afridi 124                                 Shafiul 3/95
Hasan 66


Bangladesh 246/5
Siddique 98                              Akthar 1/22
Kayes 66

Pakistan bt Bangladesh by 139 runs.

Quick Updates : India Vs Pakistan ODI#4

Phew! Its been  hours since the match ended and I am yet to get over it . What a finish !! No wonder Pakistan Vs India gather so many spectators around the world . I can definitely say that Indo Pak rivalry is more than the Oz-Poms ( Cricket rivalry , No Politics here ). The rivalry was truly showcased on the field today when Gauti got hyper yet another time with Kamran 'Butter' Akmal. It reminded me of the Styris -Johnson head bang . Talking of rivalry, how can you keep Bhajji and Akthar out of the scene  . Both of them were involved in an altercation just before the match ended . and There is so much patriotism involved when these two teams meet head to head . So this was the 4th match of the Asia Cup and it was a knock match for the Stanis. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat . Imran Farhat and Salman Butt took strike . Farhat departed early . Malik and Butt steadied the ship. Butt has scored 5 of his 8 centuries against India ( Phew!!) and was looking good for another one . Both of them fell in quick succession and then wickets kept falling , though Afridi did play a cameo scoring 32(25) . It was  Mr. 'Butter'Akmal 51(41) who made use of the batting power play and boosted the score . Eventually,Pakistan were bowled out for 267. It was a tricky target for India ,considering the Poor Lights @ Dambulla . Viru and Gauti opened for India . Viru was looking a fish out of the water. He was struggling to get the ball away . It was a very Un-Sehwag innings . Can you believe it , he scored 10 runs of 32 balls :O.Kohli didn't make a big either . MSD and Gauti put on yet another brilliant partnership of 98 runs . When Indians were looking to seal a comfortable victory , they lost 4 wickets for less than 40 runs , requiring 45+ of the last 5. Raina and Bhajji stole the match away from them. It was a gem of an innings from Raina. He proved that he can bat at any position. The winning shot , the six over the leg side, bought back the images of Javed Miandad and Chetan Sharma . Wonderful innings by Bhajji too , under pressure. He reiterated the fact that SINGH IS KING! Thus, Indians have  successfully butt-kicked Pakistan and Bangladesh out of the series. Its India V SriLanka in the finals.

Match Summary 
Pakistan 267/10 (49.3 overs)
Salman Butt  74(85)                               Praveen Kumar 3/53
Kamran Akmal 51(41)

India 271/7 (49.5 overs)
Gautam Gambhir 83(97)                        Saeed Ajmal 3/56
Mahendra Singh Dhoni 56(71)

India bt Pakistan by 3 wickets

Quick Updates : Sri Lanka Vs Bangladesh ODI#3

Well, today was the III match of the Asia Cup.It was the fight of the animals , i.e Lankan Lions and Bangladeshi Tigers , at least they call it so . The result was kinda expected . Lions are better than tigers any day, isn't it ? Sangu won the toss and chose to bat first .Tharanga and Dilshan opened and were off to a blazing start (Courtesy : 70% Dilshan 30% Tharanga). Both notched up half centuries. Is there anything which Dilshan cannot do on a cricket field ? He can bat well, handy off spinner , brilliant fielder at any position, a good enough wicket keeper , can lead a side ( Won the Zimbabwe tour ) , water boy too ( Initial stages of his career :P). He is definitely any captain's dream . Today , he took the attack to the bangla bowlers right from the start . He scored a brilliant 71 of just 51 balls and headed to the pavilion . Tharanga departed soon after . The captain and ex-captain , Sangu and Jaya steadied the ship and guided the team till the slog overs stage . Mathews and Kapugedera took the baton from them and rocketed the score to 312 in 50 overs . Quite a difficult ask. As usual Tamim and Kayes took strike , and as always they lost a wicket first up. Tamim was at his own best , belting the ball to all the parts of the ground . Junaid Siddique gave him a good support . Junaid departed , with the score on 77 . Tamim completed yet another well compiled , blazing half century and joined Siddique and Kayes soon after . Nothing worth mentioning about the other batsmen.Typical Bangladeshi Wrap up.They were bowled out for 186. Dilshan was the star with the ball , picking up 3 wickets .

 Tomorrow is the BIGGEST match of all.Yes , you guessed it right , INDIA Vs PAKISTAN . We Miss You GOD( read as SACHIN for the atheists :P)

Quick Updates : India Vs Bangladesh ODI#2

Today was the second match of the Asia Cup,played between India and Bangladesh . Both the teams were coming out freshly after defeats . India after getting thrashed in World Cup and Zimbabweans . Bangladesh lost against the Poms,but did show some character and of course the World Cup. So the teams were eager to fight it out and find out who was the Biggest Loser. Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat first without any hesitation . TONim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes took strike .TONim looked in quite a hurry  . Post Lunch problem I guess . They started BANG BANG BANG and Out ! Within no time they reached 35 and lost Iqbal.CrashaFool was trying to stick on without going for any extravagant shot early on . Then , as expected his brain froze and got out followed by Kayes and Shakib in quick succession. Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah put on a decent partnership of 55. Now call it Dhoni's thinking or magic or luck, he bought on Viru .All hell broke loose for the Tigers. He let the ball rip and picked up 4 wickets in jus 2.5 overs .  It looked like the doctors over worked on his shoulders .Indians were set a target of 168. With the present line up , you never know . Gambhir and Viru opened . Viru departed early without causing any further damage . Kohli dint do much either . Dhoni and Gambhir played sensible cricket and steered India to victory .Gambhir piled up 82 and yet and NOT OUT innings for our Indian skipper which will boost his average further .  So , the blue billion stamped  their authority in Dambulla. The Man of the match went to Gambhir for his sensible knock.

Look who's on the bike . Its Rohit for change . Dhoni must be angry . Look out Nohit , you may be bench warming the next match. All the best

Match Update - Pakistan Vs Srilanka

The fight for the King of Cricket in Asia has started . The first match was between the ever predictable Sri Lanka and the never predictable Pakistan.This match marked the entry of the Rawalpindi Express for the n'th time and ofcourse Mr.Sania Mirza, oops Shoaib Malik.Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.Murali was back into the team after getting his groin repaired ;).The SriLankan innings was yet another boring encounter.Shoaib Akthar was the star of the innings for Pakistan as he picked 3 wickets giving away 41 runs in his quota of 10.He has to definitely improve on his fitness . You could see him limping after bowling 7 odd overs. Jaya scored yet another classy half century before getting out to a bad decision. Mathews anchored the innings till the end and got a half century to his credit . Nothing else worth mentioning . Pakistan had to chase down 243, which was kinda tricky target on the snail slow Dambulla pitch. Hasan and Butt took strike for Pakistan. It seemed like they had no idea about the target . Their scoring was slower the cricket pitch. They were struggling to the bolwers away . They were in deep shit as the third wicket fell with just 32 on board after 13 overs. Enter Afridi. The match turned upside down.He started smacking the ball left right and centre.All his sixers were clean. SCREAMERS!!. He played a magical knock.It was a single man battle as the other players kept falling .

Cramps were holding him, but he kept on going . Reminded me of Fat Smith :).He deserved a century and got it in style . Finally Murali got the better of him and it ended one of the best innings of Boom Boom . It was a very mature knock.Razzaq was holding the the team after afridi's departure until Slinga Malinga came and wrapped up the innings in a jiffy. Pakistan lost by 16 runs . Malinga with his unplayable swingers and Afridi with his clean hitting were the real stars of the night :).The Man of the Match was undoubtedly Boom Boom.
Next up is the Indo-Bangla encounter.Considering the form of both the teams , I suggest the Punters to place the money on Bangladesh. Aint it Obvious! :)


P.S- 1 )Can some tell me if its Mohammed Aamer/Amir/Aamir/Ameer ?Why are the names in Pakistan so complicated ?
2) How do Umar Akmal manage to get sunscreen matching the jersey ? Is it Custom made ?:P


Trivia- Afridi successfully ran out both the brothers < Umar and Kamran Akmal>

Sourav Ganguly is a world-leading Twenty20 cricketer

 

© Indian Premier League

No, it's not a joke! According to John Stephenson, MCC's head of cricket. No pun intended but, HOW WHAT WHEN WHERE.. Exactly from which angle was John Stephenson referring to when he uttered this. In the same news, Ganguly a.k.a. Dada is going to lead the MCC team against the touring Pakistani team in a Twenty20 game to be held at Lord's near the end of june.

The MCC side also features the one & only "BCL". Yes, you guessed it. Brian Charles Lara. The three names put together for one man and the rest as they say is caribbean calypso.

Also starring are Ian Harvey, Chaminda Vaas. Going by the age trend, MCC missed Sir Boycs. Almost no one is looking forward to the game. But, Ganguly is in the news. So, have a laugh. *Cheers*