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 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

2009 - gone bys & good byes 4th QTR

In the ongoing series of the Quarterly review of 2009, we have finally reached the last of the four quarters. Nevertheless, the cricket has not. In the final quarter the quality and quantity of cricket was taken to a new level.

First, the tests. Sri Lanka visited India for a battle of the spin stars. So, that was Murali+Medis+Herath Vs Bhajji+Mishra+Ojha. Disappointing to say the least, Lankans went down 2-0. Murali was simply attacked, Mendis was even dropped, Herath was a bit of “if - but” throughout. Sehwag continued destructing attacks as a routine thing. Gambhir notched up 4 test centuries in a row, after 2 in kiwi-land. Sachin, Dravid, Laxman got runs and more runs. Sri Lanka were overpowered and a list of injuries to players dint help either. As a result, for the very first time since India began playing test cricket.. they became the #1 test side in the world courtesy some crap rating system (read ICC). West Indies toured Australia, with the players and WICB finally putting down their swords. But, that dint change the course of the test series. Aussies easily winning 2-0. Australia then beat Pakistan 3-0 in tests, winning from losing situations thanks to the generous Pakistanis. The far more interesting test series were played between Pakistan-New Zealand and South Africa-England.

Pakistan toured New Zealand in November, a side which saw a new captain in MoYo and few ICL stars returning to the side along with the i_wanna_be_ShoaibAkhtar Md. Asif. Kiwis too were playing with the return of ICL stars like Tuffey and Bond. The test series was closely fought closer than it seems 1-1 the final result. Players who impressed were Umar Akmal, Md. Asif, Aamer, Bond, Tuffey, Vettori. Not so surprisingly Bond got injured after m.o.m performance winning the first test. This left Kiwis losing the final test and helped Pakistan drawing level in the series. The England-South Africa series up the stakes even higher. England managing to draw the 1st test with just the last wicket remaining, denying Saffers a victory. Upbeat Proteas then lost the 2nd test to the Poms after a batting slump. Proteas fought back hard in the 3rd test, once again England managing a draw, denied victory by one wicket. This confirmed England were now the most annoying side in test cricket. Remember the Ashes – Cardiff test? Saffers somehow did manage to pick 20 english wickets and thus won the 4th and final test leveling the test series 1-1.



ODI’s first saw the Aussies thrash England after losing the Ashes test series.
Australia beat England 6-1 in a 7 match ODI series. The tri-nation series held in Sri Lanka featured India, New Zealand and the hosts. India won the tri-series all geared up for the prestigious Champions Trophy in South Africa. Australia won this major event in the cricketing calendar without pulling a muscle. Shane Watson was impressive, taking his role in the team to a new high. Pakistan for once was very impressive, only losing to the Kiwis in the semi-finals, raised questions about the match being fixed. England surprisingly made it to the semis of an ICC tournament, losing to their friends, defending champs and eventual champs = Australia.
Australia then played another 7 match ODI series this time in India. Beating India at home 4-2. Pakistan lost the ODI series in NZl, but won their area of expertise the T20’s. England beat SAf at home 2-1, becoming only the 2nd nation to beat SAf at home in ODI’s. Sri Lanka – India continued playing cricket as though nothing else was left to do. India won 3-1, with the final ODI at Kotla, New Delhi being abandoned. Ind, Bangladesh and no prize for guessing Sri Lanka played a tri-series, this time Sri Lanka winning the finals.



The Champions League T20, held in India saw some of the top domestic teams fighting it out T20 style. Which means the top 3 teams from the IPL, 2 teams from Aus, SAF, Eng and 1 each from W.I. , S.L., NZl. 12 champion teams and only one possible champion of the champions. The tournament did raise a few questions as the current world T20 champs dint have any representative side i.e. Pakistan were booted out. Nevertheless, the tournament took off to a flier, the current IPL champs i.e. Deccan Chargers were blown out in the very first round. This left Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils in the next round but, in the same group. But, it dint stop there, none of the Indian teams qualified for the semis. Trinidad & Tobago team the surprise package. In fact, they beat the Cape Cobras and met New South Wales who beat Victoria Bushrangers in the finals of the Champions League. New South Wales emerged as the winners of the first champions league T20. Being crowned champion of the champions. Kieron Pollard left an impact with a batting strike rate of 197!


So, in a year action packed with cricket it wasn’t easy summing things up. Major tournaments like the Ashes, ICC Champions Trophy, T20 World cup, Champions league T20 and of course the IPL all featuring in a single calendar year. Hope, you’ve enjoyed reading as much as enjoyed watching the cricket and wishing 2010 takes the competition to the next level. Until then say “Wah”.

2009 - Gone Bys and Good Byes! 3rd QTR

Despite the second season of the Indian Premier League mugging TV rights and commercial endorsements in the second QTR of 2009, the third QTR had all the excitement and more. The second world T20 championships were held in England. The Pakistani players may have been kept away from the IPL action in South Africa but, this only came as a blessing in disguise as Pakistan went on to become the world champions in T20 cricket. Despite starting poorly Pakistan showed what top quality cricket they can play. The finals of the world cup again saw two sub-continental teams fighting it out for the championship glory. This time it was Sri Lanka to join Pakistan in the finals. The tournament had a lot of cherished moments, like Netherlands beating England, Ireland moving into the 2nd round, Shahid Afridi’s magic, Gayle’s destruction, Dilshan’s err.. Dilscoop. Even Angelo Mathews’ wonderful catch in the deep also regarded as volleyball-catch or wateva!



The tournament lived up to millions of expectations; Pakistan defeated SAF in the semis thanks to an Afridi special and the Proteas re-living the “Chockers” tag. Sri Lanka on the other hand defeated West Indies in the other semi-finals courtesy a magical 1st over by Mathews reducing W.I. to 3/1 claiming Marshal, Simmons and Bravo. Md. Aamer did the same but, not exactly. In the final he removed the dangerous Dilshan in the opening over. There by, stealing momentum away from the Islanders. It was a memorable tournament where Pakistan justified their love for the shortest version of the game.

Following the T20 world championship, other cricket was played in the 3rd quarter of 2009. Where SL avenged for their T20 finals loss against Pak winning the ODI’s 3-2 and 2-0 in tests, West Indies lost too many, first against India then the minnows Bangladesh. The West Indies’ cricket board and players had a long tussle which resulted in a second string Windies team taking on the visiting Bangladeshis. This helped the Deshi’s create history winning the tests and ODI series in West Indies. Kiwis toured Sri Lanka only to lose 2-0.



But, it was the mother of all cricketing ties “The Ashes” which stole the thunder. Once again Ricky Ponting failed to win the Ashes in England. This time against Andy Strauss’s side 1-2. The statistics showed a completely different story. Australia over powered England in every aspect of the game. But, the end result was that Ricky Ponting became the second captain of Australia to lose the Ashes twice. Which just made the drawn test at Cardiff very hard to digest, where Monty Panesar the last man in survived 40 mins denying Australia a win. The find of the series were Swann and Broad, for their brilliant work with the ball and some crucial knocks with the bat.

So, that’s that in the third and most entertaining quarter of 2009. In the final quarter we saw the NatWest series, Champions Trophy, Champions League and more. All that until, we bring you on sloshedcricket keep chanting “WAH”.

BANG BANG CRICKET

Yesterday it was announced that team India will be facing their toughest over-seas tours in just a couple of months. The itinerary itself raised goose bumps in me. Come January 2010 Team India will embark upon their tour to the most fearsome and awesome side in cricket today “Bangladesh”. What’s more enthralling is that some no good test playing nation called Sri Lanka wants to participate in the ODI games, so they’re set to play a tri-nation series!

It’s been read that many top Indian cricketers have requested the B.C.C.I. for enough rest before this crucial away tour. So that’s that. In matter of 3 and half weeks the India cricket team will undergo the worst physical and mental pressures of the game. Below is the itinerary of the Bangladesh tour:

• Jan. 4: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (day/night) at Dhaka

• Jan. 5: India v Sri Lanka (day/night) at Dhaka

• Jan. 7: Bangladesh v India (day/night) at Dhaka

• Jan. 8: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (day/night) at Dhaka

• Jan. 10: Sri Lanka v India (day/night) at Dhaka

• Jan 11: Bangladesh v India (day/night) at Dhaka

• Jan 13: Final (day/night) at Dhaka

• Jan 17-21: 1st Test at Chittagong

• Jan 24-28: 2nd Test at Dhaka