Cricket: "Duminy's Maiden ton gives proteas tumping win"

Cricket: " New Zealand include Diamanti and Tuffey for Champions Trophy"

Daryl Tuffey and Brendon Diamanti have made it to New Zealand's Champions Trophy squad while Nathan McCullum misses out. Diamanti, who is playing for New Zealand A in India, will also join the Twenty20 and one-day squads in Sri Lanka.

Tuffey, a fast-medium bowler, is part of New Zealand's squad in Sri Lanka but will not be playing any limited-overs matches there since the team management had decided to take three spinners into the one-day and Twenty20 series. "But conditions will be different in South Africa - two spinners will be sufficient there, and Daryl's inclusion will give our seam attack additional depth," coach Andy Moles, who now with Daniel Vettori, has been appointed to the selection panel said. "Officially that [Tuffey in tri-series squad] was the selection by the previous committee. But basically we have three spinners in the squad and the selectors thought three spinners would not be needed in South Africa."


Tuffey last played ODIs for New Zealand in the World Cup in 2007 after which he joined the ICL for two years. On his comeback he picked up 3 for 41 in the tour game against Sri Lanka Cricket Development XI.

Moles said Diamanti's inclusion would give the squad an additional allrounder. "Brendon is a strong lower-order striker and has good control as a medium-pace bowler - he will provide valuable back-up for the squad. He was included in the Twenty20 side in England. It's just a continuity. He works very hard on his game, and he is a good team man. He is got a lot of qualitites we are looking for."

In 10 State Shield matches last season Diamanti scored 199 runs and took 12 wickets for Central Districts.

McCullum, who is also playing for New Zealand A, is yet to make his one-day debut. All A squad members will join the national team in Sri Lanka on August 26. Ian Butler, who is in New Zealand after a stint in UK, will reach Sri Lanka on August 24.


New Zealand Champions Trophy squad: Daniel Vettori (capt), Shane Bond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey

Cricket: "New Cricket Development Committee Chief is Ganguly"

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly was on Saturday appointed chairman of the new Cricket Development Committee that will have the power to assess accountability of Bengal selectors at the end of the season.

The 37-year-old will lead the Cricket Association of Bengal's (CAB) panel which consists of a three other former cricketers.

"We have decided to form the committee which will also have Arun Lal, Ashok Malhotra and Pranob Roy as the other members," CAB chief Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters after their working committee meeting at the Eden Gardens here.

Though Ganguly in the CAB Annual General Meeting on July 31 represented Mohammedan Sporting club, today he attended the working committee meet under the banner of little known Bhukailash Sporting Club.

Ganguly, however, refused to talk to the media.

Giving details about the panel, Dalmiya said, "The committee will receive report from the selectors (senior and junior) at the end of every cricket season, assess the accountability of the selectors and will make necessary recommendation as well."

The committee will also deal with the issues of umpiring standards, technical aspects of all the tournaments conducted by the CAB, and will have advisory powers in all the cricket related matters at various levels to improve the standard of the game in the state, Dalmiya said.

The committee under Ganguly, however, would not have the power to appoint umpires, Dalmiya said.

"The committee will prepare a master plan for improvement of the game at all levels -- school, college, university, club, district and office -- and submit it to the working committee," he said.

"All the members are responsible people and know what is wrong and right," he added.

Incidentally, there was a Cricket Committee which has been suspended after the formation of CDC.

"At the moment we have suspended the Cricket Committee because there will be so much overlapping. Cricket Committee will come in some other form which we will discuss later," said Dalmiya.

The CAB also appointed Goutam Dasgupta as chairman of Infrastructure Development Committee and Russi Jeejeebhoy for the Talent Research Development wing, among others.

Shivaji Ray will lead a coaching panel that will also have Snehashish Ganguly, Shibaji Banerjee, Samir Dasgupta and Sabyasachi Chowdhury.

Other committees will be headed by Prabir Chakraborty (tournament), Subrata Banerjee (umpires), Chitrak Mitra (finance), Barid Baran Sarkar (stadium).

Cricket: "Final Ashes Test's Oval Pitch Under Suspicion"

Curator Bill Gordon was under heavy fire for producing a controversial pitch where balls were going through the top of the pitch, bringing up explosions of dust and bouncing randomely.

After England was bowled out for 332, opening bowler James Anderson sent down two deliveries in his first over that disturbed the surface and did not carry through to wicketkeeper Matt Prior on the full.

Even if Australia scores 500 in its first innings, they will face the fight of their life in the fourth innings of the Test as the dry pitch continues to deteriorate.

England need a win to steal back the Ashes and they have produced a fifth Test pitch that their batsmen admit resembles a dirtbed Indian surface. Even the normally reserved West Indian legend Holding fired up.

"I am very disappointed in this pitch,'' Holding fumed. "I have never been to The Oval and seen the ball going through the top (of the pitch) like this. Even on day one we have seen this. I played here back in 1976 - in one of the hottest summers ever in England - and it didn't play like this. It can't be the weather.''

Spin great Warne also stormed in. "He (the curator) overbaked it a little bit to make sure there is a result,'' Warne claimed.

As Andrew Flintoff surged to the crease in his farewell Test, Australian opener Shane Watson survived three huge lbw appeals in the first six overs.

The pitch was keeping low and Watson was continually struck on the pads, playing across the line, as Australia reached 0-22. The first two appeals, one off Anderson and the next off Flintoff, could have gone either way but the third appeal looked absolutely plumb.

Flintoff could hardly believe it when umpire Asad Rauf turned him down and stopped down on his knee to try to haunches to recover his composure.

Watson and fellow opener Simon Katich spent most of their time gardening in the early overs, trying to sweep dust and debris off the pitch.

England resumed at 8-307 yesterday but weren't at the crease for long as Ben Hilfenhaus (3-71) bowled beautifully to polish off the tail. Hilfenhaus, who edged past Peter Siddle (4-75) as the leading wicket-taker for the series, quickly ended Anderson's world record run of 54 Test innings without a duck.

In his first over of the day, Hilfenhaus knocked Anderson (0) over with a superb late inswinger that trapped him in front of middle stumps.

Siddle had a chance to take five wickets when Stuart Broad hooked a ball high on the bat and it flew towards Mitchell Johnson at fine leg.

As wicketkeeper Brad Haddin also zoomed in on the catch, Johnson hesitated and ended up spilling a tough chance and Siddle looked on angrily.

But the end wasn't far away when Hilfenhaus had Broad (37) caught at second slip by skipper Ricky Ponting. After the first innings, Hilfenhaus boasted 21 series wickets at 26 while Siddle had 20 wickets at 27.35.

Australia's bowlers generally performed well but blotted their copybook by sending down 18 no-balls with Johnson (2-69) the worst offender with eight.

Australia will also have to be careful with their over-rates during the Test as they finished the first innings about three overs down. However they can catch up in the second innings, especially with the prospect of part-time spinners Marcus North and Michael Clarke bowling a lot of overs on a crumbling pitch.

Former England skipper Mike Atherton believes Australia has erred by not playing frontline spinner Nathan Hauritz with the pitch likened to a surface from the subcontinent. Atherton also believes England should have played Monty Panesar as the second spinner.

"I think both teams have misread the pitch,'' Atherton said. "I am sure Australia would like to have a spinner. If you are not going to play a second spinner on this pitch, when are you?''

Meanwhile, the dodgy standard of Test umpiring is again under the spotlight with two England wickets falling to front-foot no-balls. England skipper Andrew Strauss (55) had been threatening to make a big score when he was caught behind off a Ben Hilfenhaus no-ball that had been missed by Kiwi umpire Billy Bowden.

Ian Bell (72) had been aiming to reach his first Ashes hundred until he played on off Australian bowling hero Peter Siddle. However replays showed that Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf had missed Siddle overstepping the crease.

Cricket: "Australia Targetting flaws of Collingwood : Hughes"

Trott, in fact, acquitted himself rather well. Coming in just after 3pm following the tame dismissal of Paul Collingwood, Trott marched to the middle with intent and, after taking time to compose himself, leapt into a committed forward defensive stroke to his first ball from Peter Siddle.

He was equally alert to the next couple of deliveries which were fast and aimed into his ribs. Jumping back and across he rose athletically onto his toes to play the ball down and to safety, and though he was almost run-out seeking his first run from the second, as the short-leg retrieved and shied, his method in those first three balls was a deal more reassuring than Ian Bell's or Collingwood's.

It was a day of numbing realism for England supporters watching England flailing in the Oval dust bowl as a fish might flounder in a sandpit. Only one wicket, Trott's as it happens, was not presented to the bowlers.

The rest succumbed in a hail of ill-conceived shots. The pitch was clearly not as flat as it looked but the ease with which Trott dealt with an honest but hardly terrifying Australian attack suggests that a first innings score of 400-plus was essential.

Collingwood's dismissal was especially disappointing. After his double failure at Headingley he elected not to play for Durham. That was his prerogative, and it is well known that players in such demand, like Collingwood, feel the need to mentally relax between Tests.

But Collingwood hasn't contributed a three figure innings in any cricket since the West Indies series in March and you can lose the knack and rhythm to make substantial scores.

His batting looked bereft on Thursday of anything but its admirable grit and determination. The backlift is lower than ever, the shot range increasingly limited. It is sad to see a player who was so adaptable and resourceful a few years ago materialise into an awkward scrapper.

The Australians know his bottom hand is so dominant he finds it very difficult to score on the offside. Ricky Ponting was even provocatively mimicking his ugly, drive-choking method from second slip.

It means they can bowl in a channel outside off stump with no fear of being hurt by him. He is obliged to wait for something on the stumps that he can then chisel for runs on the legside. And the Australians weren't in an obliging mood. They strayed only three times from the plan in an hour and a half of Collingwood doggedness.

There were three nurdled boundaries, but otherwise it was an innings of jerky survival, including an apparent edge to the keeper which the umpire didn't pick up, and occasional wafts at thin air.

One of those wafts was at Peter Siddle, to a ball on a good length a little wide of the stumps. Collingwood, on 24, had only managed two scoring shots in half an hour and went after it with an undignified flail. He missed it and we breathed a sigh of relief and convinced ourselves that it was the bit of luck he needed.

But he attempted the same shot to an identical delivery next ball and sliced to gully. It was a tame end. Significantly, it was the sixth time in eight dismissals in the series that he has been caught behind the wicket.

It is a tale of a struggling batsman running out of time. But, knowing Collingwood's appetite for a fight, you'd be a fool to label this the final chapter.

Cricket: "Ashes: Andrew Flintoff has the opportunity to seal his Legend Status at Oval"

Grand finale: Andrew Flintoff has a chance to secure his place in English cricket history in his final Test against Australia at the Oval, which will decide the Ashes.

Freddie has always regarded himself as a batsman who bowls, often to the point of myopia. Everyone else, and this is something borne out by his Test record too, feels his strength lies as a fast bowler who managed the odd valuable innings, such as the brilliant hundred he made against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2005.

He could prove us all wrong during the Ashes decider that starts at the Oval on Thursday but it would be the exception rather than the rule. If you asked his captain, Andrew Strauss, whether he would prefer his retiring asset to sign off against Australia with a hundred or five wickets, he would plump for the latter without hesitation.

Discovering you are not who you think you are cannot be easy for any player, let alone one of Flintoff's public standing. Fortunately, any frustration is likely to have been tempered by his recovery from a succession of career-threatening injuries.

Overcoming them has been a major achievement in itself and worthy of celebration, as would a second Ashes victory for his team should one come to pass over the next few days.

It is those injuries, beginning with a fractured foot in 2000 right up to his recent knee problem incurred during the Indian Premier League, which probably prevented him from attaining true greatness as a player, but no-one can be certain. Not one driven to the pursuit of excellence, there is a large part of Flintoff that seems content to be good enough, which may be why he does not sit comfortably with the team's current management.

Not that his adoring public ever seemed to notice that his legend mostly exceeded his deeds. Five Test hundreds and three five-wicket hauls in 78 Tests is decent but not devastatingly good. If he had a peak it came between 2003 and 2006, when in more than 41 Tests he averaged 40 with the bat and 27.9 with the ball.

Impressive though that was, it is not Ian Botham-esque, the all-rounder all subsequent pretenders have been compared to. In 102 Tests, Botham made 14 hundreds and took 27 five-wicket and four 10-wicket hauls, the majority of them match-turning efforts. Flintoff has contributed his own match-altering performances, but like Mike Gatting, who will forever dine out on his two victories as England captain because they won the Ashes, they have added cachet for mostly being against Australia.

His all-round deeds against the Aussies in the ding-dong skirmish of 2005 (24 wickets and 402 runs), means he will be forever twinned with that extraordinary series. A player who generally sacrificed flair for power, he proved a revelation in that series, especially with his bowling, which combined the menace of the great West Indies quick's with the skill of Pakistan's great reverse-swinger, Waqar Younis.

If you want the perfect distillation, it was the over in Australia's second innings at Edgbaston in which he dismissed Justin Langer with the second ball and Ricky Ponting for naught with the last.

Unfortunately, his bowling never quite reached those heights of skill again, though his powers as a battering ram, his general modus operandi when the ball is not swinging, was vital at Lord's three weeks ago, where his five for 92 gave England victory. His many injuries may have prevented him from raising his skill levels over the years, but the rehabilitation required ensured he was always strong and fit enough to bowl fast, even if it was without frills.

Flintoff's main asset is that he provided certainty, especially with the ball, something every captain craves. He was not quite so accommodating towards the team effort off the field, as Fredalo and his bad time-keeping on a trip to Belgium honoring Britain's war dead have shown, but then discipline has never been his middle name.

Many feel he has changed of late, from a happy-go-lucky Preston lad to calculating cash cow, gratuitously flashing tins of Red Bull and his Puma kit to the nearest camera. What is plain is that he does not see his duties as a team man extending beyond the cricket pitch.

All will be forgiven and his legend secured should he repeat his Lord's performance here at the Oval. Analyzing the Flintoff phenomenon, Nasser Hussain once said that, "He has something of the village green to which people can relate." Let us hope that something ends with him getting a jug or two in here over the next few days.

Freddie Flintoff’s career highs and lows

v South Africa, The Oval, 2003
A rapid 95 enabled England to declare their first innings on 605 and level the Test series.

v Australia, Edgbaston, 2005
He scored 68 and 73 before dismissing Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting in the space of five balls.

v Australia, Trent Bridge, 2005
Flintoff’s last Test century enabled England to take a 2-1 lead.

v Australia, The Oval, 2005
Flintoff’s spell in the first innings has been described by Ricky Ponting as the best he has ever seen. Flintoff took five for 78.

v Australia, Lord’s, 2009
Five-wicket haul sealed England’s first Ashes win at Lord’s in 75 years.

Cricket: "Clarke Warns England Ahead of Oval Decider"

Clarke gave a warning to England that Australia will go all out for victory in tomorrows crucial Ashes Test at Oval.

Australia defeated England comprehensively with innings and 80 runs at Headingley. Australia just needs a draw to take home the famous urn. But according to clarke Australia will not be playing for a draw instead will be going all out for a victory.

Clarke is expected to shrug off a stomach injury to be fit for the sell-out Test, which begins tomorrow. The 28 year old has had much more success in this series than in the 2005 series when he failed to reach three figures despite playing all five Tests.

The vice captain admits the tourists have been using the 2-1 series defeat four years ago as motivation for this Test. Australia have a selection dilemma with their bowling attack after Brett Lee declared himself fit for the Test. He will face opposition from Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark for a place in the seam attack.

The tourists are expected to stick with their batting line up that amassed 445 runs at Headingley on a pitch where England made just 102 and 263. Their opponents, however, are expected to recall all-rounder Andrew Flintoff while debutant Jonathan Trott will replace the out of form Ravi Bopara.

Australia opener Simon Katich has hinted that Ponting’s team will target the 27-year-old by promising him a “warm welcome” to the international fold, and Clarke believes the Warwickshire batsman faces a hard task adapting to Test cricket.

Cricket: "Oval Test will be one of the greatest Test : Strauss"

England Captain Strauss anticipated that Oval Test will be one of the greatest Test in ashes history. He does know that it is undecided about the destiny of urn.

He said, "I think we're good at being underdogs. We've shown that in the past and I think we can take a lot of confidence from the fact it's 1-1 in the series at the moment."

"It's probably where both teams deserve to be at the moment. There's no reason for us to be negative at all. We got on top of them twice in the series and we need to do that once more." said by Strauss.

He also said that England has learned its lesson from their earlier loss to Australians and raring to beat them at Oval.

Lets see what will happen. But one thing is sure that it will one fascinating match on the cards. Stay tuned for more news on this.

Cricket: "Steyn's Drug Results had High levels of morphine"

The Indian Premier League have asked South African international fast bowler Dale Steyn to explain high levels of morphine found in a drugs test. The sample was taken while the 26-year-old was playing for the Bangalore Royal Challengers in this year's competition.

South Africa team doctor Mohammad Moosajee believes painkillers taken for migraines are behind Steyn's result. "This is an adverse analytical finding and that is totally different from a doping violation," said Moosajee.

Steyn has replied to an enquiry into his results from the IPL's doping authorities and Cricket South Africa are now following up the case with their Indian counterparts. "Since last summer Dale has been laid low by chronic migraines and has been taking a codeine painkiller called Myprodol," added Moosajee.

"The normal level of morphine is one microgram (per ml), Dale was at around 1.1 to 1.3. "Because he was slightly above the level, they wanted to know why. A letter has been written to the IPL and we are awaiting the reply."

Steyn, who has previously played for Essex and Warwickshire, was keeping a written record of the medication he was taking and Moosajee believes that a difference in the branding of Myprodol between India and South Africa may have contributed to his abnormal results.

Cricket: "Matthew Hayden will join Cricket Australia and Queensland Cricket boards"

Australian Ex-Opener Matthew Hayden will join Cricket Australia and Queensland Cricket Boards. The 37-year-old former Test opener was elected by the council of Queensland Cricket to replace Allan Border as one of Queensland's two CA directors.

Border decided to step down after eight years in the role. Border will stay on as a QC director while Bryan Phelan will continue as Queensland's other CA director.

Hayden said he was honoured to join both boards. "I see it as a wonderful way to maintain an active role in the sport and making a meaningful contribution to the game that has brought me and others so much enjoyment," Hayden said in a statement.

"I'm very excited about the challenges ahead and I'm confident that I can be a strong contributor for Australian cricket going forward." Hayden, who will stand down from the executive of the Australian Cricketers Association following his CA board appointment, said he would continue to advocate on behalf of the players.

"It's true I have been a vocal campaigner for players rights during my player career and it's only natural that I would retain that interest," he said. "But I have been very fortunate over the years with Queensland and Australia to be exposed to the wider interests of the game and, through that, develop a keen interest in the business of cricket and the overall growth of the game at all levels."

Hayden will join another former opener, ex-Test captain and NSW director Mark Taylor, on the CA board.

Cricket: "Australia Release Twenty20 and One day Squad against England"

Australia Twenty20 squad:
Michael Clarke (capt), Brad Haddin (vc & wk), Callum Ferguson, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, David Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Dirk Nannes, Adam Voges, David Warner, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

Australia ODI squad:
Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke (vc), Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin (wk), Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine (wk), Peter Siddle, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

Cricket: "Ponting Out of Squad for Twenty20 Matches Against England"

Australian captain Ricky Ponting will be Our of Action rather Squad for Twenty20 Games against England. He has been rested for the two Twnety20 matches which will follow soon after the Ashes series. Michael Clarke will lead the 13-man Team in Ponting's absence.

Dirk Nannes is the surprise package in the Australian Squad. Dirk Nannes was born in Melbourne, he also has a Dutch passport, he recently played for Netherlands in the ICC World Twenty20 since he couldn't make the Australia Team.

Ricky Ponting will Join and lead the team in the one-day series which will follow Twenty20 Games.

Australia have included uncapped player in the 15-man one-day international squad, who will also be on duty for the ODI against Scotland on 28 August, is Tasmanian wicketkeeper and batsman Tim Paine, 24, who will be backup for Brad Haddin.

Brad Haddin has been named as vice-captain for the Twenty20 games. Other players who will accompany Ricky Ponting for rest are Peter Siddle, Nathan Bracken and Mike Hussey.

Mind you Australia have taken these drastic steps since they coudnt proceed to super six stage in recently concluded World Twenty20 Tournment. They lost to West Indies and Sri Lanka in the first round.

Cricket: "Australia include Dirk Nannes in Twenty20 Matches with England"

Dirk Nannes the name which flashes through minds of IPL lovers. He represented Holland recently in Twnety20 World cup. Even though he played for Holland in the recently concluded World Twenty20 cup, Dirk Nannes is included in Australian team because Holland is an associate member of the ICC and Holland doesn't have full membership rights. But once he represents Australia he will not be permitted to play for Holland again.

Dirk Nannes is 33-year-old, who represented Victoria and was a star performer for Victoria in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash tournaments, when he was not selected for World Twenty20 squad he thought he would never get selected for Australia in future.

He played England in the recently Concluded World Twenty20 where he helped Holland to an historic final-ball victory at Lord's. He has not taken a wicket in this match but contained the run flow. He believes playing for Holland really helped him in his career.

"That moment of winning the game against England at Lord's was probably the best sporting moment I have had and I will never forget that." he said.

As far as the future goes, Nannes is not thinking about a Test call up any time soon, he is just hopeful of performing well enough for Australia to be considered for selection in the future, in particular next year's World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.

Cricket: "Ashes : Australia Clobber England to level series"

Australia came out of the humiliation which they suffered against England in third test by defeating them by an innings to square the most prestigious Ashes series. England have to win the final test to regain the urn where as Australia has to just draw the match and the series to regain the ashes.

General if cornered Australia backlash and this is what has happened now, they lost the second test and nearly lost the third test too. They were no where when they started the fourth test, but they came back strongly to level series and threatening to take away the series.

England batted first and six of their batsmen where already in pavilion when lunch bell rang. Within no time the other wickets fell and England were allout for just 102 just passing there lowest ever.

Australia too has problems when they lost the first wicket in the second over and Harmison's first but then Ponting and Watson who made a third consecutive fifty in his third consecutive ashes inning made sure they didn't let the England bowlers to settle down. But once Ponting and Watson were back there was a slight hiccup when they lost 3 quick wickets and were 184 for 4 but the most consistent batsmen for Australia Michael Clarke and North came to their rescue and gave Australia a huge lead. Michael Clarke was unlucky to miss his century but North completed his overall third and second ashes century and made sure that Australia had to never bat again in this test.

England started their second inning with more than 300 runs deficit and more than 2 days of plays left. They again collapsed like first innings but Board and Swann made sure that they didn't loose without a fight. Board and Swann counter attacked and scored more than 100 runs in less than 12 overs to provide some pride in a loosing cause. Johnson who was out of form throughout this series came to the party this time and took 5 wickets to shut England out of the contest and leveled the series.

Man of the Match was awarded to North for his superb 110 for Australia.

Cricket: "Bangladesh Wins First Away Series Against WestIndies"

Bangladesh at last have arrived in the international stage with a away series vitory against WestIndies. This is the first time they have won a series away. Inspite of they playing with a second string team of WestIndies, they should a lot of character and applied themselves to win this series.

It was Sakib Ul Hassan who turned it for Bangladesh, he bowled brilliantly and batted extra-ordinarily to see bangladesh through in both the test and was rightly adjudged Man of the series. This is just a beginning and bangladesh have a long way to go, with the resource they have they will surely see success with other top league teams in the days to come.

West Indies was hit by contract issues, due to which all the leading player went on a strike. The board has to decide on the second string team in a haste. Second string teams have a lot of talent in the form of Roach and Sammy who will surely considered inspite of return of the main side. What ever may be the reson, West Indies gave away the series to Bangladesh.

Cricket: "Puffy Flintoff Blows Australia Away in Second Ashes Test"

Ashes comes alive as England draws the first blood and go up 1-0 in the series. England defeated Austrlia in the second test with 115 runs and improved their chances of grabbing the ashes from Australia.

Flintoff took five wickets in the course of this victory. His previous five wicket haul was against Australia in 2005 that too in a Ashes which they won. That win in 2005 led them to win the ashes, will this Five for do the same, lets see.

Flintoff's spell on the last day first session was deadly, he first removed the set batsmen Hadding and then has Haurtiz and Johnson to clean up Australia. Just before the second test he announced his retirement and made his intensions clear about winning Ashes 2009. Lets see how deadly will be prove in the next three matches.

All the best to flintoff and England.

Cricket: "England Manage to Draw the First Ashes Match"

At last Ashes has arrived and Australia will be defending their Ashes agaisnt England who are more determined to grab it this time. England want to avenge their loss to Australia in 2006 when they lost it 5-0 whitewash. England wants to give flintoff and great farewell to his test career by winning the Ashes.

England escaped with a draw on the final day of the first Ashes test and not letting Australia taking a lead here.

Cricket: "Flintoff Announces Retirement After Ashes"

Andrew Flintoff has announced his retirement from International Test Cricket after the current Ashes. This he announced during the Second Ashes Test 2009. He also said that winning this ashes will be perfect farewell to him. Rightly so he produced a gem of a performance to give England a 1-0 lead in the Ashes afer the second test.

Cricket: "India Wins series 2-1 against West Indies"

After doing disastrously bad at T20 World cup indian fans has a reason to cheer. India has won its Fifth consecutive series win after defeating WestIndies in the just concluded one day series under the leadership of Dhoni.

India started the series with a band when they scored 340 in the first ODI, thanks to Yuvraj for his brilliant century. WestIndies came terrifyingly close to chase down it but fell just 20 runs short of it giving india a 1-0 up in the series. West Indies came back strongly in second ODI, where Dhoni's heriocs coudnt win the game for india. With this win the series was hanging in balance at 1-1. Third ODI was shortened due to rain and india won it thru Dhoni who hit a six in the final over to seal a win for india and giving india a unassailable lead of 2-1. Final ODI was a damp squid and India won Fifth straight series on a trot.

Mahendra singh Dhoni was awarded the Man of the series award for his consistant performance througout the series.

India's Consolidated list of Five Series Wins:

YEAR	AGAINST	IN	MARGIN	MAN OF THE SERIES
2009	WestIndies	WestIndies	2-1	MS Dhoni
2009	NewZealand	NewZealand	3-1	--NA--
2009	Srilanka	Srilanka	4-1	Yuvraj Singh
2008	England	India	5-0	Yuvraj Singh
2008	Srilanka	Srilanka	3-2	MS Dhoni

As you refer the table above, 4 of the 5 series wins for india are away and one was against england during which the mumbai attacks happened. Dhoni and Yuvraj domindated the series and not to be forgetten that in the recently concluded series inspite of Dhoni being the Man of the series Yuvraj scored a brilliant century of the series from either side.

Cricket: "India Review at ICC World Twenty20 Cup"

India the Defending Champions are ranked 1. They were defending their title in the Second World Twnety20 cup. Lets see how they fared at the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20 Cup.

Warm Up's:
India started their campaing against NewZealand in a warmup match and they lost it. Inspite of their loss they gave a good fight till the end and had a good warm up match. Their second warm up match was with the runnerup of the previous ICC World Twenty20 cup, Pakistan. Truely speaking the match was not less than a final of any Tournment. India won the match quite convincingly but the environment and the attendance fot the match was incredible. Initially in the match Pakistan was blazing away with super shots but india came back strongly and have beaten them easily. India maitained their record in world cup of not loosing to Pakistan in any world cup. India emerged as a stronger side and after their perfect warmups they looked as if they are perfectly up for the tasks to come.

Initial Round:
India was in a easy compared to other groups. India was with Bangladesh and Ireland in Group A. It played first with Bangladesh and defeated them easily and then went on to crush Ireland and easily went into the super eights. Other teams like Australia, westindies and Srilanka were in a group of death, where they had to sweat out to reach super eight india had the luxury of qualifying to super eight quite effortlessly.

Super Eight's:
India faced first with WestIndies in Super Eights. West indies were on a high after ousting Australia out of the ICC World Twenty20 Cup and coming into the super eights stage. India lost to westindies easily. Bravo was the allround star for westindies with both ball and bat. First he took 4 wickets to limit the total of india and when West indies were struggling at one point he came and just blasted Indians bowlers to all parts of the ground and gave them the initial lead in the super eight stage. Then india faced england in the second Super eight match. India had to defeat england to stay alive in the tournment and they tried all their strenght but went down fighting and lost the match and lost the chances of making it to the semifinals. With this loss the defending champions were out of the tournment. Last match they played in super eight stage was against South Africa. South Africa were undefeated in the tournment and india has to salvage some pride by defeating them. India bowled well with their spinner coming to party but they coudnt repeat the same with the bat and lost the match easily to charged up southafricans.

This was the flop show from indians, who showed their authority with minnows but coudnt show the same with the other strong teams and lost all their matches with them.

Cricket: "Pakistan are the ICC Twenty20 World Champions"

Pakistan are the ICC Twenty20 World Champions. After they were denied first time, they came back strongly and defeated Srilanka in a rather easy win and took the ICC Twenty20 World Cup. Now they will be called the Defending Champions.

The only team which they lost was India. It was a practise match but not less than any war. Pakistan looked weak in the beginning of the tournment and looked as if they will loose to Ireland as well. Once they got the right combination and perfect game plan they cruised towards the title and grabed it. They rightly selected the openers in the form of Kamran Akmal and Hasan, both were destructive at times and everytime they came out they gave a dream start to Pakistan. Afridi remoulding has perhaps one of the excellent gift which pakistan was gifted and it proved a greak blessing for them to win ICC Twenty20 World Cup. Till the semifinal his bowling was lot talked about and then in SemiFinal and Final apart from taking wickets he scored 50's in each innings and won Man of the Match awards in both the games. He provided the allrounder role perfectly for pakistan. Coming to the death bowling, how can we forget the Umar gul, the reverse swing specialist. His death bowling was lethal for pakistan in every game. Especially against New Zealand against whom he took 5 for 6 best figures till date in International Twnety20 cricket, he was divastating. In every match he used to come in 13th over and continued till the end of the innings. His role was set strategically and he executed it perfectly.

Pakistan main strength were the Game Plan and the roles assigned to each individuals. More over the perfect implimentation of each individual made them win as a team. Congrats once again for the new Twnety20 Champions. Next ICC Twenty20 World Cup is due in nine months time, lets see how it goes.

Cricket: "ICC World Twenty20 Final SriLanks Vs Pakistan"

We are into the final game of the Fasinating ICC World Twnety20 World Cup. Its the final between last time finalist Pakistan and Sri Lanks who are yet to be defeated in this tournment.

Srilanka won the toss and elected to bat first. Srilanka had a disastrous start to the ICC World Twnety20 final match. Consistant Opening Batsmen Dilshan was out for a duck in the very first over and Mubarak, who are promoted up the order soon followed in the next over. Srilanka were already into the trouble loosing two wickets in the first two overs. Sangakkara and Jayasuriya tried to repair the damage but Jayasuriya was out trying to increase the run rate ans soon wickets started tumbling at regular intervals. Pakistan spin attack was dangerously spinning the match in pakistan's favour. At one point Srilanka were 6 for 70 from 13 overs and were neck deep in trouble. But Sangakkara made sure that they reached a competitive total and scored a brilliant fifty and had a counter attacking partnership of 68 from 7 overs with Mathews. Sangakkara truely played a captains innings and bailed his team out of humiliation by helping them score a challenging total. Sangakkara scored 64 and he was not out till end with Mathews who scored 35 and helped Srilanka scored a reasonable total. For Pakistan Razzaq took 3 wickets.

Is the total of 138 defendable? srilanka has a good pace attack with Malinga and new kid Mathews in their stand and not to forget the deadly combo of Murali and Mendis in their side. Can the Pakistani's chase this target? they have a new afridi, akmal younus and shoaib malik in their side. lets see how the chase went and who won the most prestigious ICC World Twnety20 Cup.

Pakistan had a great start to their chase when they were 48 for no loss in the first 7 overs. Jayasuriya was introduced in the 8th over and he produced the first breakthrough for Srilanka when Sangakkara Stumped Akmal. Akmal played brilliantly for his 37 and soon Hasan followed him when he was out caught of Muralitharan. That had bring Afridi and Shoaib Malik to the crease. Initially they played very cautiously and were limited to only singles. But once the runrate was increasing, boundaries were hard to come by so both of them cleverly converted ones to twos and kept the score board ticking and made sure that runrate never went high. Once everything was under control and had wickets in their hand, Afridi blasted the bowlers and romped home comfortably with 8 wickets in hand. Afridi scored a brilliant 50 second time in a row. dont forget his majestic 50 in semifinal. Afridi was unconquered on 54 and shoaib was with him till the end with 24. For Srilanks Muralitharan and Jayasuriya took a wicket a piece.

Pakistan are the World Twnety20 Champions.

Afridi was adjudged Man of the Finals and TM Dilshan was adjudged Man of the Series.

Scored board:

Srilanka Innings:

Name		Runs
TM Dilshan	C Hasan B Aamer	0
ST Jayasuriya	B Abdul Razzaq	17
J Mubarak	C Hasan B Razzaq	0
KC Sangakkara	Not Out	64
DPMD Jayawardene	C Misbah B Razzaq	1
LPC Silva	C Ajmal B Gul	14
I Udana	B Shahid Afridi	1
AD Mathews	Not Out	35

Bowling:

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Mohammad Aamer	4	1	30	1
Abdul Razzaq	3	0	20	3
Shahid Afridi	4	0	20	1
Saeed Ajmal	4	0	28	0
Shoaib Malik	1	0	8	0
Umar Gul	4	0	29	1

Pakistan Innings:

Name		Runs
Kamran Akmal	St Sangakkara B Jayasuriya	37
Shahzaid Hasan	C Jayasuriya B Muralitharan	19
Shahid Afridi	Not Out	54
Shoaib Malik	Not Out	24

Bowling:

Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
AD Mathews	2	0	17	0
I Udana	4	0	44	0
SL Malinga	3.4	0	14	0
M Muralitharan	3	0	20	1
BAW Mendis	4	0	34	0
ST Jayasuriya	2	0	8	1

Cricket: "ICC World T20 Semifinal Two Srilanka Vs WestIndies"

Welcome to the exciting second semifinal between Srilanka and WestIndies. Yet to be defeated in the Tournment Srilanka will take on the Strong West Indies in an exciting Semi Final clas in ICC World T20 Semifinal.

West Indies won the toss and elected to field first. Inspite of Jayasuriya Struggling Srilanka had a great start to this second semifinal of ICC World T20. They were 72 without any loss at the half way mark. Dilshan was in prime form and it showed on the field when he did the bulk of scoring in the opening partnership and continued till the end. But the other once Jayasuriya was out for his scrachy innings of 24 no other srilankan batsmen stayed at the crease for a long time. Wickets tumbled at regular intervals but Dilshan made sure that Srilanka reached a fighting total of 158 of their 20 overs. Dilshan was unconquered till the end with 96 from 57 balls and for West Indies Bravo took two crucial wickets.

It was a chaseable target, in lieu of the long batting line up of West Indies heading with Gayle. Srilanka bowling has also the reputation of defending any target. Lets see who did what and most importantly who won the match.

West Indies had a horrible start of the tournment when their three main batsmen were back in the pavilion with just one run on the board. Interestingly all the three were clean bowled and the super bowler was Mathews. Still West Indies has hopes of chasing the target since Gayle was still at the crease and proving very destructive. Gayle was scoring runs at one end and West Indies kept loosing wickets at other end. They coudnt come out the first over debacle and when spin was introduced they just surrendered themselves and were allout for a below par 101. Such was the first over effect that except Gayle no other West Indian batsmen coudnt score a double figure. Gayle carried his bat through the innings and scored a brilliant 63 of 50 balls and for Srilanka Mathews and Muralitharan took 3 wickets a piece. Dilshan was adjudged Man of the Match for his Super innings of 96 not out.

With this win Srilanka have reched finals for the very first time. Mind you Srilanka are yet to be defeated in this tournment. Will Pakistan do it? lets see what happens in the final.

Congrats!!! to Srilanka for their great victory and All the best for their final match against Pakistan.

Cricket: "ICC World T20 SemiFinal One SoutAfrica Vs Pakistan"

After all the preliminary matches and super eight matches the semi finalist have been selected and the first semi final is between still to be defeated South Africa with engergized Pakistan team. Both teams have batsmen as well as bowlers are match winner in their team. But the Momentum is surely with South Africa who are still to be defeated in this tournment.

Its a very crucial match for pakistan after they were out for a long in world stage. If they win they will prove a point to the world. Nevertheless match is poised to be exited one. Lets see how the teams will fare. Since its a knockout stage, pakistan has a little edge since south africans have fared really bad in their knockout stages. But south africa have to prove a point by winning this match and have eradicate the tag of chokers attached to them.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Pakistan lost hasan in the very second over. to everyone's surprise Afridi walked in at no 3. Afridi played sensibly and he was not the old afridi who would go after every ball. Kamran akmal played his part and scored a quick fire 23. Shoaib malik joined Afridi and they played good cricket by not going for the big shots, instead they took twos and ones and a boundary of each over. They were playing a risk free innings until shoaib malik tried to clear boundary and was caught of van der merwe. South african bowlers were excellent in the death bowling as they restricted pakistan under 150. Later younis khan and abdul razzaq made sure that pakistan reached a respectable score of 149 of their 20 overs. For pakistan afridi scored 51 of 34 balls with 8 fours and for South Africa Steyn, Parnell, Duminy and vander merwe took a wicket a piece.

South Africa has a strong start in the first 5 overs. Both their openers were looking solid until spin was introduced. Once spin was introduced South African batsmen had no clue what they were upto and kept loosing wickets. Kallis stood firm at one end and other end South Africa kept loosing wickets. Kallis played brilliantly and kept the hopes alive with Duminy who was giving a perfect support to Kallis. But once kallis was out so were the hopes of South Africa as they lost the match by 7 runs. For South Africa Kallis scored a solid 64 and Duminy was unconquered on 44 and for pakistan took wickets to add to his 51 earlier. He rightly derserved the man of the match award.

So Pakistan marched into the finals once again, second time in a row they have reached the finals and are poised to win the title as well. Lets see who will join them in the finals and who will win the finals.

Cricket: "ICC World Twenty20 Cup 2009 Semi Finals"

Four teams have qualified to the semifinals. They are South Africa, Pakisthan, Srilanka and WestIndies. South Africa and Srilanka are undefeated in this tournment yet. Where as WestIndies and Pakistan had to struggle to reach Semifinals.

On 18th June South Africa will take on Pakistan. It will be a facinating match which starts 10 pm India time (IST). Inspite of being undefeated South African's should be wary of the Pakistan side, which is getting stronger day by day. Pakistan batting has improved as the tournment progressed, there bowling with the backing of Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal is highly rated. Where as Southafrica has perfect pace and spin attack which will jolt any apposition. For pace they have steyn, parnell and steyn brothers. For spin they have Vander marwe and Botha, they have proved deadly in this tournment. These two teams looks good and it will be a good fight never the less. Wishing South Africa and Pakistan all the very best for their First Semi-Final match.

On 19th June West Indies will take on Srilanka. It will be surely a tight contest between West Indies and Srilanka. Srilankan's are on a high after being undefeated in the tournment and West Indies are on high after winning their last two matches to reach Semifinals. Both teams have good hitters and perfect timers. Coming to bowling department srilanka has a slight upper hand compared to West Indies. Srilanka has deadly Mendis and powerful Murali and dont forget the yorker king Malinga. WestIndies bowling has been week throughout the tournment but their batsmen have come to theri rescue. Since this is a knockout stage they should be wary of their weekness and plan accordingly. Srilanka have a slight upper hand going into the second semifinal.

My Prediction:
Ist Semi-Final: SouthAfrica will win
2nd Semi-Final: Srilanka will win

These are just my assumptions the actual winners will let you know as and when the matches complete.

Cricket: "ICC World Twenty20 cup 2009 India Vs South Africa"

After loosing both their matches india are already out of the tournment. Needs to see how they fare against a already semifinalist southafrica. SouthAfrica is on a high after defeating england and westindies quite convincingly. It will require a very good performance from india to win this match. Lets see how they fared.

First time in this tournment india lost the toss and were asked to field first. India started well by removing Gibbs in the second over. Then deVilliers and smith consolidated and moved the score board. When the spin attack was launched South Africa were out of sorts and kept loosing wickets at regular intervals. deVilliers kept his cool and held on to one end while South Africa was loosing wickets at other end. India came back into the game with their spin bowlers, even the part time spinners were giving a torrid time for South Africa batsmen. South Africa managed a below par total of 130 of their 20 overs. deVilliers top scored with 63 of 51 balls with 7 fours and for India Raina, Harbhajan, Jadeja, RP Singh and Zaheer took a wicket a piece.

This is a total which is easily chaseable. Lets see what india do after failing in their earlier encounters.

India started well with 48 runs in the first 6 overs. This start was enough for india to take home confortably. But once the spin was introduced in the 7 over india too kept loosin wickets. Can you believe that, the greatest palyers against spin were just loosing wickets for the same spin. Inspite of a late surge from Yuvraj and Harbhajan singh, india fell short by 12 runs. It was really a dissapointing show from indians after loosing their earlier two Super Eight matches. They were in a very comfortable position and lost the match by 12 runs. For india sharma scored 29 and Yuvraj scored 25 and for South Africa Botha and Steyn took 3 and 2 wickets respectively.

It was a pathetic performance by india, if they had won a match here they would have salvaged some pride. So this was the tale of indians at the second edition of the ICC World Twenty20 World cup.

Cricket: "ICC World Twenty20 cup 2009 India Vs England"

India Will face England in their Second Super eight Match in ICC World Twenty20 Cup 2009. After loosing to WestIndies india have to win this match against England to keep their hopes alive in this tournment. If they loose England or westindies will have a outright chance of making it to the semifinals. Since southafrica have already qualified for semifinals. So this is a do or die situation for india.

Fourth time in a row Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first. Inspite of loosing the wicket of Luke Wright england made a reasonable start to their innings. Once the spinners were introduced runs were very hard to come by and England kept loosing wickets at regular intervals. But with the help of Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen and Mascarenhas england made a very good yet defendable total of 153 in their 20 overs. For England Pietersen scored a quick fire 46, Bopara played a responsible 37 and late florish of 25 from Mascarenhas. For india Harbhajan took 3 and Jadeja 2 respectively.

Score of 153 is a decent total and hard to chase. But india has no other way other then to chase this total to stay alive in this tournment. Lets see how they fared in this do or die situation.

India didnt learn from their earlier mistakes and again toporder failed to strike. Wit just 24 on the board india lost Rohit sharma and Raina in quick succession. Jadega was promoted up the order, but he coudnt do any anything other than wasting the balls and creating more pressure on the players to come. They lost 3 quick wickets in the form of jadeja,Gambhir and Yuvraj. It was left to Dhoni and Yousuf Pathan to finish off the game. They tried their level best but fell short by 4 runs thus giving England a 3 run victory. For india Dhoni scored 30 and Pathan Scored 33 and both were notout till end. For England Sidebottom and Swann took 2 wickets a piece.

Side Bottom was adjudged Man of the Match for his Superb bowling during death overs.

With this loss india was knocked out of the tournment by england and they fancy their chances of heading to the semifinals. They will meet WestIndies tomorrow to decide who will go to semifinals. But for india they are already ont and will have to play Southafrica for pride. It was a very poor show from the defending champions and they have to blame for thier show.

Cricket: "ICC World Twenty20 Cup 2009 India Vs WestIndies"

After defeating Bangladesh and Ireland in the first round, india will be facing a stronger side in the form of WestIndies in their first SuperEight Match. India defeated ireland easily but they were not in best of forms, there form will be tested with wesindies today. Lets see how they fared in this crucial match.

Third time in a row Dhoni won the toss and tactically choosed to bat first. India's top order was exposed first time in ICC World Twenty20 Cup. With just 29 on board three of them already in the pavilion. Dhoni and Yuvraj studied the innings before Dhon was out for 11 of 23 balls. Yousuf pathan and Yuvraj came to indias rescue and scored runs at a grisk rate and helped india reach 153 for 7 of their 20 overs. For India Yuvraj Scored 67 and Yousuf Pathn scored 31. For WestIndies Bravo took 4 wickets and Edwards 3 wickets.

India's score of 153 was a decent total and was defendable. How did westindies approached the target and how india tried to defend the target let us see now.

West Indies had a horrible start when they lost Fletcher early. Gayle was also out of sorts and was playing a rather cautiously innings. He holed out to Zaheer of the bowling of Yousuf pathan. Gayles wicket gave a lot of confidence for india, but fall of gayles wicket had bring Bravo to the crease. Bravo started the counter attack with Simmons who had already spend some time in the middle and was well set. These two were just hitting the ball all parts of the ground. Ojha took the wicket of Simmons in 15th over. Still with Chanderpaul and Bravo cruising, there was no stopping for westindies from winning this match. WestIndies overcame the target with 8 balls to spare and 7 wickets in hand. Bravo top scored with 66 and simmons made a gritty 44. For india Pathan brothers and Ojha took a wicket each.

Man of the Match was awarded to Bravo for his Allround performance.

India faced a strong side in ICC World Twenty20 cup for the first time and they were out of sorts and went down tamely. Will they continue the same in other two matches or will learn from their mistakes and try to rectify their mistakes. Lets see and hope for the best.

Cricket: "ICC World Twnety20 Cup India Vs Ireland"

After defeating Bangladesh in the inaugural match india had to face Ireland. Ireland were on a high after defeating Bangladesh in their first match for which they have qualified to the super eights. Which means Ireland will play with three strong teams. India might have got a lesson from that match and will not be taking the Ireland team for granted. Because of rain the match was reduced to 18 overs a side.

India won the toss and elected to field first. As india planned for this match beforehand they stuck to their game plan and executed it beautifully. Zaheer too came to the party and proved his fitness with four wickets. Put into bat Ireland started their innings rather disastrously when they lost their openers with just 9 on the board. Zaheer was the bowler on both the occassions. They kept loosing wickets at regular intervals, apart from a late flourish from white who scored 29 from 25 balls no other Ireland batsmen scored a reasonable score. They tamely surrendered and scored a below par 112 of their 18 overs. Zaheer took 4 for 19 of his three overs and Ojha took 2 for 18 of his four overs. For Ireland White scored 29.

India started their chase slowly but steadily. They reached the target in less than 16 overs and with just 2 casualities. Gambhir scored a elegant 37 with 3 fours and 1 six Sharma scored a perfect 52 with 4 fours and 1 six. For Ireland west and McCallan took one wicket a piece. So that a easy first round outing for india in their ICC World Twenty20 Cup. Hope they continue the same winning form in the matches to come. Zaheer was adjudged the Man of the Match for his superb bowling.

India will face westindies who are on a high after defeating australia in their first match.

Cricket: "ICC World Twenty20 Cup India Vs Bangladesh"

India are on a high after defeating pakistan in the last practise match. They faced Bangladesh in their first match of the preliminary round. Luckily for india they were in a easy group compared to other three groups. India's group consisted of Bangladesh and Ireland. But you cant underestimate bangladesh as they are the one who defeated us and made us to exit the 2007 world cup in initial stages it self. In their first match in ICC world Twnety20 they are playing with India after narrowly missed the target versus Australia.

India won the toss and choose to bat first. They started of well with both Rohit Sharma (who is opening instead of sehwag) and Gautham Gambhir blasting the Bangladeshi bowlers. They layed a good foundation when they scored 59 of first 7 overs. Rohit sharma was out trying to up the runrate. Dhoni came and played a scrachy innings. It was yuvraj who played a gem of an innings and took india to a strong total. He had hit Naeem Islam for 3 sixes in a single over, before which naeem islam was dagerously getting bangladesh back into the game with his two wickets. Other chipped accordingly and India scored 180 of their 20 overs. Gautham scored 50 and Yuvraj scored a quick fire 41. For Bangladesh Naeem Islam took 2 for 32 of his 3 overs.

Bangladesh batsmen started off well but their inexperience in handling the situation did them in. Bangladesh openers Tamim and Junaid started off well but kept loosing wickets at regular intervals. Junaid played superbly for his 41 with 3 sixes, if he had continued in the same fashion Bangladesh would have forced an upset. Bangladesh sccumbed to spinners. Ojha took 4 for 21 of his 4 overs and ishanth taking 2 for 34 of his 4 overs. For Bangladesh Junaid scored a perfect 41. Bangladesh scored 155 loosing the match by 25 runs. Ojha was adjudged man of the match for his superb bowling.

It was indeed a easy win for india, but the zeal wasnt there in the indian camp. Whether it was the IPL schedule or fatigue i am not sure, but the intensity wasnt there in the match. Hope they pick up the momentum as the series progresses.

So it was a good start for india in ICC World Twenty20 cup.

Cricket: "ICC world Twenty20 world cup India start its campaign with a bang"

Not even few weeks have gone by and we haven't come out of the IPL hangover we are already into another visual treat. Hi friends lets welcome ICC world twenty20 world cup. As you all know INDIA is the defending champion and are looking certainly so again for the second time in a row.

India played its practise match with Newzealand, though lost it fared reasonably well. Mind you they had just come to England and haven't adjusted to the environment yet. You might be thinking how i am sure about it. If you see the second practise match against Pakistan you can see the authority of the defending champions in that match. They had defeated Pakistan quite convincingly and showed that they have adapted to the circumstances well bu then.

Losing to Newzealand is a blessing in disguise, last time around when India played ICC twenty20 world cup they lost to only New Zealand and won the cup. So this time around its like a great start losing to New Zealand, don't you agree? you better agree.

Coming to Practise match with Pakistan, it wasnt like a practise match it was like a final or not less than a semi-final match. India maintained the world cup record of not loosing to Pakistan even once. Initially Pakistan were blasting away to corners of the park until ishant was introduced. He dried up the runs for which resulted in a run out and wickets in last ball. Then on Pakistan kept loosing wickets but posted a respectful total for chase. India started cautiously then rohit sharma showed why he is opted when sehwag is rested and blasted Pakistan bowlers and had a very good match practise. Gambhir at other end gave a solid support by rotating the strike and scoring runs when needed. India just loosed one wicket and scored the runs rather easily. It was indeed a fantastic match practise for India after loosing to newzealand in their earlier match practise. This win should give India lot of confidence going into the world cup as defending champions.

Any ways "All The Best for our Indian Team".

Cricket: "2009 IPL Hyderabad Deccan Chargers are the champs"

Can you believe it, Hyderabad Deccan Chargers who were last in the table last edition of IPL are indeed the champions of the second edition of IPL 2009. Its really incredible and kudos to the victorious Hyderabad Deccan Chargers who showed great character, strength and unity.

They started their campaign with a bang when they won 4 continuous matches in a row and topped the table for a while. In middle of the campaing they stumbled but again boosted thier spitits when ever they required to do so. They managed to be in the top four of the table after all the premilinary matches and made their way for their first semi final in IPL.

It was Captain Gilchrist all the way in semifinals, delhi gave a reasonable target for Hyderabad to chase. But delhi were blown away by the Gilchrist tsunami and they lost as if they were not deserved to be in semis. Gilchrist blasted the delhi bowlers and gave a superb start for which hyderabad were into the finals.

Finals saw two underdogs Deccan chargers hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore. These were the teams who finished last in the first edition of IPL. It was really fantastic match with both the captains showing why they are into finals. It was a close match with all the thrills to be called finals. Bangalore were unlucky to lose the match, but Deccan should be credited for holding on their nerves and winning the second edition of the IPL 2009.

Congratulations to Hyderabad Deccan Charges for their Glorious win and winning the Second Edition of IPL 2009.

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Final: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Deccan Chargers"

Final: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Deccan Chargers

Deccan Chargers proved too good for Royal Challengers Bangalore when it mattered the most. Deccan Chargers won the second edition of IPL. They defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 runs and held their nerves to win a tense finish at Wanderers stadium, Johannesburg.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to field first. To defend their call, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Anil Kumble deceived Gilchrist and bowled him of the third ball of the first over to give Royal Challengers Bangalore a terrific start. Suman soon was showed the way for pavilion when he was out trying to hook vinay kumar and was safely taken by Manish Panday after a slight confusion. Other end Gibbs was playing a rather controlled innings and made sure that wickets are intact at one end. Fall of Suman had bring Symonds to the crease. Symonds started blasting the Royal Challengers Bangalore and was almost single handedly carry the counter attack. Kumble brought himself back and immediately took the wicket of symonds to check the run flow. Rohit sharma with Gibbs made sure that Hyderabad Deccan Chargers reached a safe score and later Hyderabad Deccan Chargers kept loosing wickets and made 143 for 6 of their stipulated 20 overs. For hyderabad Gibbs played a sensible innings and scored 53 of 48 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. For bangalore Kumble had a terrific outing with 4 for 16 of 4 overs and Vinay kumar took 2 for 30 of 4 overs.

Royal Challengers Bangalore started their campaign quite cautiously and were 20 for no loss in 3 overs. In fourth over RP Singh showed his class and bowled Kallis for 15. Soon Pandey followed kallis trying to up the runrate and edging a ball from Ojha to Gilchrist. Van der merwe played a good cameo in the middle with three huge sixes but still coudnt contain the raise of runrate and flow of wickets. Wickets kept falling, apart frol taylor and Van der merwe no one could score a reasonable score. Taylor scored quick fire 27 from 20 balls with 3 fours and 1 six where as Van der merwe scored 32 of 21 balls with 1 four and 3 sixes. All was dependend on Uthappa to see Bangalore home, but RP Singh made sure that Deccan were safely home and won the Second edition of the IPL 2009. It was indeed a tense filled final which came to the last ball and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers were the deserved champions to win the Second edtion of the IPL 2009. Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 137 for 9 of their 20 overs and lost the match by 6 runs. For Hyderabad Deccan Chargers Ojha took 3 wickets and Symonds and Harmeet took 2 wickets a piece.

Man of the Match was awarded to Anil Kumble for his 4 for 16 of 4 overs.

Man of the Series was awarded to Adam Gilchrist for his Superb batting through out the series and dont forget his apt keeping and cool captaincy. He was a truely allrounder and much deserved to honour with this award.

Scores: Deccan Chargers 143 for 6 (Gibbs 53*, Kumble 4-16) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 137 for 9 (Ojha 3-28, Symonds 2-18) by six runs

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Second Semi-Final: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Chennai Super Kings"

Second Semi-Final: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Chennai Super Kings

Cricket: "IPL 2009 First Semi-Final: Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers"

First Semi-Final: Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 56: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Deccan Chargers"

Match No 56: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Deccan Chargers

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 55: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians"

Match No 55: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 54: Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab"

Match No 54: Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 53: Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals"

Match No 53: Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 52: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Delhi Daredevils"

Match No 52: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Delhi Daredevils

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 51: Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders"

Match No 51: Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 50: Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals"

Match No 50: Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 49: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab"

Match No 49: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 48: Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders"

Match No 48: Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 47: Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians"

Match No 47: Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 46: Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab"

Match No 46: Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 45: Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals"

Match No 45: Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 44: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Chennai Super Kings"

Match No 44: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Chennai Super Kings

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 43: Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils"

Match No 43: Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 42: Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians"

Match No 42: Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 41: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders"

Match No 41: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 40: Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals"

Match No 40: Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 39: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders"

Match No 39: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 38: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Mumbai Indians"

Match No 38: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Mumbai Indians

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 37: Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals"

Match No 37: Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 36: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab"

Match No 36: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 35: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians"

Match No 35: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 34: Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab"

Match No 34: Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 33: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Rajasthan Royals"

Match No 33: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Rajasthan Royals

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 32: Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians"

Match No 32: Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 31: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders"

Match No 31: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 30: Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals"

Match No 30: Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 29: Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers"

Match No 29: Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 28: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Mumbai Indians"

Match No 28: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Mumbai Indians

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 27: Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders"

Match No 27: Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 26: Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils"

Match No 26: Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 25: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers Vs Rajasthan Royals"

Match No 25: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers Vs Rajasthan Royals

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 24: Royal Challengers Bangalore Vs Kings XI Punjab"

Match No 24: Royal Challengers Bangalore Vs Kings XI Punjab

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 23: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Mumbai Indians"

Match No 23: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Mumbai Indians

Kolkata Knight Riders have lost another match which was well under their control for major part of the game. They lost to Mumbai Indians by 9 runs in a tense finish at Buffalo park, East London.

Mumbai Indians won the important toss and elected to bat first. They lost Jayasuriya early for 6 and just 19 runs on the board. Harbhajan singh was promoted up the order as a pinch hitter, but he too coudnt say longer at crease as was out for 6 in 7 balls. Tendulkar who was playing a lone hand until then departed for a well made 34 of 30 balls with 3 fours and 2 lovely sixes. Nayar too followed him soon after and was out for 10 of 13 balls and score was reading 71 for 4 of 12 overs. Duminy with the help of Napier and Rahane took mumbai to a respectable score of 148 of their stipulated 20 overs. Duminy was unbeated on 52 from 37 balls with 4 sixes and one four. For Kolkata Ishanth, Dinda, Karthik, Agarkar, Gayle, hodge took one wicket each.

Kolkata had a disastrous start when Ganguly and Gayle were out without bothering the scorers and score was reading 8 for 2 in 2.2 overs. Then Hodge and Van Wyk steadied the innings with an excellent 91 runs partnership for 3rd wicket. But once van wyk was out for 32 of 35 balls wickets kept falling and pressure kept on building. Kolkata all of a sudden where on the downside and lost the match by 9 runs. Hodge played an excellent innings of 73 from 60 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes. For mumbai Zaheer Khan took 3 wickets and was the most successful bowler.

Man of the match was awarded to JP Duminy for his classy innings of 52 from 37 balls with 4 sixes and one four.

Scores: Mumbai Indians 148 for 6 (Duminy 52*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 139 for 6 (Hodge 73, Zaheer 3-31) by nine runs

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 22: Chennai Super Kings Vs Rajasthan Royals"

Match No 22: Chennai Super Kings Vs Rajasthan Royals

Chennai Super Kings started their IPL 2009 campaign poorly but now they are gaining their strenght and showing their authority with big wins. Today they have defeated Rajasthan Royals by 38 runs at SuperSportPark Centurion.

Rajasthan won the toss and elected to field first. Chennai started their Innings quite disastrously when they lost the leading run scorer for IPL 2009 "Hayden" for 1 in 2 balls and soon patel followed him for 3 in 11 balls. Then Raina with Badrinath added 67 runs in 7 overs to steady the innings. Later Badrinath was foxed by warne for 29 of 27 balls with 4 fours and Oram joined him soon without troubling the scoreres and making just 2 of 6 balls. Dhoni came to crease and gave a supporting role to Raina. Other end Raina went after the bowling of Rajasthan Royals and played a gem of an innings before being out to Patel. Scorers got confused and declared 100 for Raina when he was still on 98 and that led Raina to score freely and he was out for 98 of 55 balls with 10 fours and 5 sixes. Chennai scored a majestic 164 of their allotted 20 overs. For Rajasthan Yousuf Pathan and Munaf patel took 2 wickets each.

Rajasthan Royals started their chase with a setback when their lost smith for just 2 of 5 balls and socre reading 9 of 2 overs. Rajasthan Royals continously loosed wickets, with the exception of Jadeja no one were able to score a decent score and were allout for 126 and lost the match by 38 runs. Jadeja scored 37 of 33 balls with 2 fours and 1 six. For Chennai Balaji took 4 wickets and Oram and Morkel took 2 wickets each.

Man of the Match was awarded to SK Raina for his gem of an inning of 98 of 55 balls with 10 fours and 5 sixes.

Scores: Chennai Super Kings 164 for 5 (Raina 98, Badrinath 29) beat Rajasthan Royals 126 for 9 (Jadeja 37, Balaji 4-21) by 38 runs

Cricket: "IPL 2009 Match No 21: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers Vs Delhi Dare Devils"

Match No 21: Hyderabad Deccan Chargers Vs Delhi Dare Devils

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers Winning steak came to an end when they lost to Delhi Dare Devils by 6 wickets. Dilshan was the wrecket in chief for Delhi who took them home with a thrilling finish. Deccan Chargers are to be blamed for themselves for their poor effor in the fielding and loose balling.

Delhi Dare Devils won the toss and elected to field first. Delhi had a terrific start when Nannes forced Gilchrist to edge a swinging delivery and was caught behind by Karthik in the very first over. Soon Gibbs followed him again giving Nannes his second wicket. Hyderabad kept loosing wickets at regular wickets and with the exception of Smith who scored 48 of 28 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes none of them were able to score a decent score. Tight bowling from Delhi was another reason for the failure of Hyderabd bastmen. Hyderabd managed to score 148 for 9 of their 20 overs.

Delhi started their chase with a bang. Sehwag and Gambhir where going after the Hyderabad bowling and scored 30 of the first 3 overs. In the fourth over RP singh took the wicket of Sehwag and the Match turned around and Delhi lost de Villiers and Gambhir in quick succession. Match was in Hyderabad favour and then the most depended batsmen for delhi Dilshan had other plans and he with Karthik had a counter attack on Hyderabad. They were indeed successful in scoring runs and they scored 79 of jsut 10 overs and made it easy for Delhi. Once Karthik was out for Ojha Dilshan made sure that Delhi were home with no more casualities and 8 balls to spare. Dilshan scored 52 of 46 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes and Karthik scored 41 of 30 with 3 fours and 1 six. For Hyderabad Shoaib was the successful bowler with 2 for 20 of his 4 overs.

Man of the Match was awarded to DP Nannes for his excellent spell of 16 for 2 of four overs.

Scores: Delhi Daredevils 150 for 4 (Dilshan 52*, Karthik 41, Shoaib 2-20) beat Deccan Chargers 148 for 9 (Smith 48, Nannes 2-16) by six wickets

Cricket: "Abdullah's heroics in tense last over helps punjab win a tense match"

Match No 20: Kings XI Punjab Vs Mumbai Indians

Kings XI Punjab defeated Mumbai Indians in a tense finsih by 3 runs here at Kingsmead, Durban. Duminy's fifty coudnt save mumbai from the defeat.

Kings XI Punjab won the toss and elected to bat first. They had relatively slow start and then lost their openers in within 5 overs when their score was reading 18 for 2 of 4.3 overs. Sangakkara was running out of partners as the wickets kept falling but sangakkara made sure that he stayed till the end and get punjab a decent score. Sangakkara scored 45 of 44 balls with 2 fours and 1 six and in whole punjabs inning only sangakka scored more than 20 runs. Such were the batting woes of punjab. But with the help of Sangakkara they scored a fighting 119 of their 20 overs. For Mumbai Indians Malinga had a excellent spell with 2 wickets against his name.

Mumbai Indians had a horrible start when lost Jayasuriya, Tendulkar and Dhawan to Pathan, Malik and Abdullah respectively with score reading 12 for 3 in 4 overs. What Sangakkara did for Punjab, Duminy followed the same and at one end he fixed himself up and scored runs accordingly, but he was running out of partners as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Bravo and Nayar scored 15 each and took mumbai to their target. But once harbhajan was out for 6 things changed dratically but still Duminy was there in the center. Yuvraj handed over the ball to Abdullah and he delivered what he was said to and didnt give any thing for Duminy to free his arm. Duminy coudnt save mumbai from defeat when he was eventually out for 59 of 63 balls with 4 fours. Mumbai could manage just 116 and loose the match by 3 runs.

Man of the Matchwas awarded to KC Sangakkara for his super 45 of 44 balls with 2 fours and 1 six.

Scores: Kings XI Punjab 119 for 8 (Sangakkara 45*, Malinga 2-12) beat Mumbai Indians 116 for 7 (Duminy 59, Abdulla 2-19) by three runs

Cricket: "Boucher Steals a thriller for Royal Challengers Bangalore"

Match No 19: Royal Challengers Bangalore Vs Kolkata Knight Riders

At last Bangalore Royal Challengers have come out of their loosing streak. They have kept their cool and defeated Kolkata Knight Riders with 5 wickets and one ball to spare at Kingsmead, Durban.

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat first. For Bangalore Kevin pieterson opened the bowling and to Kolkata Knight Riders horror he removed Maccullum of the very first ball. His decision of opening the bowling proved fruitful. Hodge and Gayle then played sensibly and moved the score to 45 of 6 overs. Kumble trapped hodge plumb in front and Ganguly's dodged innings came to an end when he came a timely catch to kallis of praveen kumar. Soon after the strategic break Gayle was out to young Appanna before scoring 40 of 37 balls with 6 fours. Later Van wyk scored a solid 43 of 35 balls with 4 fours and made sure that Kolkata scored a good 139 of their 20 overs. For Bangalore Kumble was the pick of the bowler with 2 wickets against his name.

Bangalore Royal Challengers had a slow but an excellent start when they were 65 with no loss at their strategic break. After their strategic break match slipped away from bangalore and kolkatta made a strong comeback into the match. Bangalore lost Goswami(43) and Kallis (23) in consecutive overs to hodge and sharma respectively. Pieterson and Kohli tried to accelerate the score and where both victims to hodge spin. Inspite of loosing wickets at other end Boucher kept one end intact and cooly took Bangalore home with 5 wickets and 1 ball to spare. Boucher made 25 of 13 balls with 2 fours and 1 six.

Man of the Matchwas awarded to MV Boucher for his cool 25 of 13 balls with 2 fours and 1 huge six.

Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 143 for 5 (Goswami 43, Hodge 3-29) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 139 for 6 (van Wyk 43*, Kumble 2-16) by five wickets

Cricket: "Daring Yousuf snatches victory from Delhi Daredevils"

Match No 18: Delhi Daredevils Vs Rajasthan Royals

Yousuf Pathan big hitting addes two points to Rajasthan Roayls. Rajasthan royals had an emphatic win against Delhi Daredevils when they defeated them by 5 wickets at superport park, Centurion.

Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to bat first. Delhi lost Gambhir(8) and Sehwag(16) in the third over with score reading 25 for 2 of 3 overs. Soon dilshan and karthik followed them of patel and warne respectively and the score was reading 4 for 49 of 7.2 overs. Then DeVilliers had a crucial partnership of 56 runs and steadied the innings. AB deVilliers scored 50 of 40 balls with 5 fours and 1 six and vettori 29 of 28 balls with 3 fours. late florish from manhas 23 from of 16 balls helped delhi scored a reasonable 143 of 20 overs. For Rajasthan Mascarenhas, patel and warne chipping in with 2 wickets a piece.

Rajasthan Royals followed the same mistake which they incurred in their previous matches and lost wickets at regular intervals and they were 64 for 5 of 11 overs. But they still had hopes with super captaincy from Warne. He didnt send yousuf before and kept him for the lat charge and it really helped Rajasthan. Other side Smith was playing a patient innings and kept one end intact. Once pathan came to the crease he gave a damm to the situation and played his natural game. he scored a sensational and un defeated 62 of 30 balls with 3 fours and 6 sixes and smith scored a patient undefeated 44 of 46 balls with 5 fours. They shared a unbroken partnership of 83 runs of just 45 balls. Rajasthan royals have beaten the Delhi Daredevils with 5 wickets.

Man of the Matchwas awarded to YK Pathan for his entertaining and daring innings of 62 from 30 balls with 3 fours and 6 huge sixes.

Scores: Rajasthan Royals 147 for 5 (Pathan 62*, Smith 44*, Mishra 3-34) beat Delhi Daredevils 143 for 7 (de Villiers 50, Vettori 29, Munaf 2-14, Mascarenhas 2-28) by five wickets

Cricket: "Tendulkar and Jayasuriya Thrash Kolkatta Knight Riders"

Match No 17: Kolkata Knight riders Scores: Vs Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians showed their supiriority by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders with a huge margin at St George's park, Port Elizabeth. Confidence of Mumbai indians is growing with each match they are playing.

Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat first. Jayasuriya and Tendulkar gave mumbai a dream start to Mumbai and at the strategic timeout there score was 111 for no loss. Both the openers blasted the kolkata bowlers to all parts of the ground and didnt spared or respected any bowler. Tendulkar was more severe in both and was very agressive. They scored 127 of 12.2 overs and paved the way for a big score. Tendulkar was out caught in front of Shukla's bowling for 68 of 45 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes. Jayasuriya socred 52 of 32 balls with 2 fours and 4 sixes. Later down the order mumbai batsman coudnt captalize on the start and made 187 of their 20 overs. Which was clearly below par when considerd to start their openers gave them. But this was enough to defend Kolkata Knight riders who are struggling to win a match in this season. For Kolkata shukla took 3 wickets and was the stike bowler.

As usual Kolkata Knight Riders started their chase in a negative note when their lost their openers with 17 on the board. Hodge and Ganguly consolidated later and scored a decent 71 at the strategic timeout and were looking for more. But soon later hodge was out when he was bowled by nayar and in his next over nayar removed ganguly and mumbai lost the rest of the wickets for a shameful 15 runs and were bowled out for 95 in 15.2 overs. Ganguly socred 34 and hodge 24 and no other batsmen could score a reasonalbe score. For Mumbai Malinga and nayar took 3 wicket a piece and Bravo chipping in with 2 wickets. Eventually kolkata knight riders lost the match by 92 runs.

Man of the Matchwas awarded to SR Tendulkar for his ruthless inning of 68 from 45 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes.

Scores: Mumbai Indians 187 for 6 (Tendulkar 68, Jayasuriya 52) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 95 (Malinga 3-11, Nayar 3-13) by 92 runs

Cricket: "Gibbs makes it four in a row for Hyderabad

Match No 16: Chennai super Kings Vs Deccan Chargers

Hyderabad Deccan Charges registered their fourth win in a row. They defeated Strongest contenders Chennai super kings with 6 wickets and 3 balls to spare are Kingsmead, Durban.

Hyderabad Deccan charges won the toss and elected to field first. Chennai super kings had a bad start when they lost Patel in the first over when he was caught behind of Edwards of the very second delivery of first over. Raina and hayden stedied the inning with a second wicket partnerhip of 64 of just 6 overs. Raina was deceived by sharma and was out when the score was readig 64 of 7 overs. Dhoni and hayden had a reasonable partnership, but once Ojha was introduced runs were hard to comeby and in the process of accelerating the score hayden and dhoni fell in the 12 over to Ojha. Hayden made 49 and Dhoni 22. Late cameo from Oram 41 of 29 balls made sure that Chennai made a strong score of 165 of their 20 overs. For Chennai Hayden scored 49 Oram scored 41 while for Hyderabad ojha took 2 crucial wickets.

Hyderabad had an excellent opening stand of 67 runs with just 5.4 overs on the board. Both Gilchrist and Gibbs were thrashing the hapless chennai bowlers. Dhoni move of introducing raina in the 6 over returned rich results with Gilchrist's wicket. He scored 44 of 19 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes. Laxman who is not in his prime form soon followed Gilchrist with 4 of 5 balls then rohit sharma gave good support to Gibbs before being caught behind of Balaji. Then smith soon followed him but shocased his power by hitting a four and a six of this 5 balls stay of 12 runs and later Bilakhia and Gibbs ensured that there are no more casualities and romped home with 6 wickets and 3 balls to spare. For Hyderabd Gibbs scored 69 of 56 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes and Gilchrist scored 44 of 19 balls. Raina was the successful bowler with 2 wickets against his name.

Man of the Matchwas awarded to HH Gibbs for his Match Winning innings of 69 of 56 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes.

Scores: Deccan Chargers 169 for 4 (Gilchrist 44, Gibbs 69*) beat Chennai Super Kings 165 for 6 (Hayden 49, Oram 41*, Ojha 2-11) by six wickets

Cricket: "Irfan Pathan's All round show steals a win for Punjab"

Match No 15: Kings XI punjab Vs Rajasthan Royals

Kings XI Punjab came back strongly and defeated Rajasthan Royals by 27 runs at Newlands, Cape town. It was Pathan and Sangakkara who were the starts who did it for punjab.

Kings XI Punjab won the toss and elected to bat first. They had a disastrous start as they lost goel of the very first ball. Bopara followed him soon. Sangakkara kept one end intact but he was loosing out of partners at other end. Yuvraj and Jayawardene followed soon without troubling the scorers. Jayawardene fall of wicket had bring Irfan to the crease. Sangakkara and Pathan added 75 of just 10 overs and revived punjab's inning. Punjab scored respectable 139 of their 20 overs. Top scorers for Punjab were Sangakkara 60 and pathan 39 and main strikers for Rajasthan Royals were Kamran Khan and Munaf Patel with two wickets each.

Rajasthan Royals didnt learn from their earlier mistakes and kept loosing wickets at regular intervals. They were 42 for 6 of just 8 overs. With top order 6 batsmen including Yousuf pathan and Graeme smith coudnt score a reasonable socre. Jadeja and Warne did some batting practise for thier next match and scored some runs. Rajasthan scored 112 for 7 of their allotted 20 overs. Jadeja scored 37 and warne was undefeated on 34 for Rajasthan Royals, were as Abdullah took 3 and Pathan and Chawla taking 2 wickets each for Punjab. Eventually Rajasthan Lost by 27 runs.

Man of the Match was awarded to KC Sangakkara for his crucial match winning innings of 60 from 51 balls with 7 fours and one six

Scores: Kings XI Punjab 139 for 6 (Sangakkara 60, Irfan 39) beat Rajasthan Royals 112 for 7 (Jadeja 37, Abdulla 3-21, Irfan 2-26) by 27 runs

Cricket: "Dilshan Helps Delhi Score Hattrick Wins"

Match No 14: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Dare Devils had won 3 matches on trot when they defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore with 6 wickets at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth. It was really disappointing for the Bangalore with good high class players.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to bat first. They lost kallis of the first ball when Nannes yorked him. Uthappa followed him soon when he was out in the very next over off Nehra. Then Taylor and Captain Pietersen played brilliantly and took the score to 72 in 9 overs without further loss. But 3 balls later Pieterson, when he looked settled tried to charge vettori and was cleaned up. There on Taylor, Kohli and Boucher gave ample support and Royal Challengers Bangalore scored a reasonable 149 for 7 of their alloted 20 overs. For Delhi Nehra was the stike bowler with 2 wickets against his name.

Delhi started their chase quiet disastrously when they lost Sehwag for 7 and score reading 11 for 1 in 1.4 overs. Then came the super cool Dilshan. He along with Gambhir tried to consolidated sehwag wicket with a cautious plan. Gambhir was out in 6th over for a slow paced 16 with one four. Then with the help of De Villiers, Dilshan moved the score. But two qucik wickets of DeVilliers and Karthik gave the advantage again to Bangalore. Dilshan and Manhas had other plans and blasted the Banglaore Bowlers to all parts of the park and chased down the target in 19.2 overs. Dilshan was unconquered with 67 of 47 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes and Manhas undefeated on 23 of 13 balls with 3 fours. For Bangalore stike bowler was Pankaj Singh with 2 wickets against his name.

Man of the Match was awarded to TM Dilshan for his match winning knock of 67 from 47 balls.

Scorers: Delhi Daredevils 150 for 4 (Dilshan 67*) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers 149 for 7 (Pietersen 37, Nehra 2-34) by six wickets

Cricket: "Chennai Super Kings V Kolkata Knight Riders Match Abandoned without a ball bowled"

IPL Season 2 13th Match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders was to be held in Newlands, Cape Town. Match was washed out and was later Abandoned without a ball bowled. Both the teams share a point each. Chennai Super kings were desperately waiting for the match to happen and collect their share of 2 complete points. Other side Kolkata Knight Riders were happy to share one point, since they were sure they might have lost the game.

At last Kolkatta Knight Riders started their account with one point and chennai sadly lost a point with this washout. Lets whats in store ahead in this IPL Season 2. Stay tuned for more updates.

Cricket: "Gibbs and Ojha Make it 3 in a row for Deccan Chargers"

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers are in Supreme form here in IPL Season 2. They defeated Mumbai Indians by 12 runs in a edge of the seat thriller at Kingsmeat, Durban.

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers won the toss and rightly elected to bat first. Gilchrist and Gibbs gave them the dream start by scoring 63 in less than 7 overs. Gilchrist was more severe in both scoring 35 of 20 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes. But he was caught behind off bravo soon later. Then came DR Smith, he was promoted up the order to move the score board rapidly. With Gibbs he lived up to the expectations when both scored 60 of exactly 6 overs before smith was out for 35 of 22 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes. Gibbs tried to move the scoreboard, but he was running out of partners at other end and Deccan Chargers ended up scoring 168, atleast 20 to 30 short of what they were capable. For Mumbai Indians Bravo and Malinga were the strike bowlers who took 3 wickets a piece.

Mumbai indians started their chase with a shock when they lost jayasuriya for 1 in second over with 4 on the board. They came the $950,000 baby "Duminy", he with tendulkar blasted the Deccan chargers bowlers to all parts of the ground. At half time they were 86 for 1. They were ahead in all respects untill the strategy break. Then cupid stuck and mumbai started loosing wickets. First was tendular who was foxed by Ojha. Tendulkar hit 36 of 27 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Wickets kept falling and the pressured kept on haunting mumbai indians and they tamely surrendered with the exception of Duminy who stuck a gritty 47 of 40 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Mumbai Indians finished with 156 on the board and lost by 12 runs. For Deccan Chargers Ojha, RP singh and Edwards who took 3,2 and 2 wickets respectively.

Man of the Match was awarded to PP Ojha for his match winning 3 for 21 of 4 overs.

Scores: Deccan Chargers 168 for 9 (Gibbs 58, Bravo 3-34, Malinga 3-19) beat Mumbai Indians 156 for 7 (Duminy 47, Ojha 3-21) by 12 runs

Cricket: "Bopara makes Punjab break the jinx with an easy win against Bangalore"

Semi-finalist in the first version of IPL, Kings XI Punjab started there camapaign in second version rather dissapointing with 2 losses. They registered their first win againt Bangalore at Kingsmead Durban with an easy 7 wicket win.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to bat first. They had a disappointing start when they lost Uthappa caught by yuvraj off irfan for a first ball duck. This time around ryder didnt dissappoint (Remember he was out first ball duck in either of his first two matches) and scored a quick fire 32 of 21 balls with 6 hits to the fence before yorked by Abdullah in 6th over when the score was reading 48. Two balls later pieterson followed him giving Abdullah his second wicket in the same over. Dravid too followed suit with a sedade innings of 10 from 13 balls. Dravid wicket had bring taylor to the crease and then the run flow started. Taylor with kallis blasted the Punjab bowlers to all parts of the ground, they added 60 runs in exactly 6 overs. Kallis was caught by jayawardene giving Abdullah his third wicket. Kallis made a gritty 62 of 46 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes and Taylor made 35 of 22 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. The lower order chipped in with useful contributions. For Punjab Abdullah and Irfan were the stike bowlers with each taking 4 and 3 wickets respectively. Bangalore made a commanding toal of 168 in their stipulated 20 overs.

Punjab started their chase brilliantly with their openers Goel and Bopara scoring 52 f 6.4 overs. Goel fell shortly when there was a miscommunication between them and fell short of his crease. Then sangakkara fell to kumble before adding a quick fire 40 runs for the second wicket with bopara. Sangakkara scored 26 of 18 balls with 2 fours and 1 six. with the fall of second wicket yuvraj came to the crease and made sure that there were no more casualties and scored 66 runs with bopara before bopara was out caught to Ryder of kallis trying to clear the boundary. Bopara made a fantastic 84 of 59 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes. yuvraj made a classy 30 runs of 17 balls with 3 fours and 1 six and completed the formalities for punjab with jayawardene and won the match for Punjab with 1 over to spare.

Man of the match was awarded to Ravi Bopara for his match winning fantastic knock of 84 of 59 balls.

Scores: Kings XI Punjab 173 for 3 (Bopara 84) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers 168 for 9 (Kallis 62, Abdulla 4-31, Pathan 3-35) by seven wickets

Cricket: "Yousuf Pathan Steals Rajasthan a thriller with super over"

Hey let me ask you one question did you thought that the match between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Dare Devils was the best match till date?... If that was the best match then the match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders at Newlands, Cape Town was the mother of best matches. Yeah i am not kidding just read on......

It is indeed the best match of this IPL season and first tie. Yousuf Pathan showed why Rajasthan Royals are the defending champions. It was one of the elctrifying, thriller, call it what ever you want... but this was the most astonishing match of the tournment.

Kolkatta Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field first. They complimented their call with two early wickets with not much on the board. Score was reading 14 for 2 of 2.2 overs and Yousuf pathan came to crease. He didnt bother about the wickets and continued his natural game and took score to 70 for 2 of 8 overs. Yousuf scored 42 of 21 with 6 boundaries and 2 over it. Thats when disastor stuck rajasthan. Mendis was introduced in 9th over and he striked twice in that over to remove smith and pathan and rajasthan fell apart. Jadeja and Mascarenhas consolidated with some slow partnership and Raut chipped in which a quick fire 21 at end which included 1 boundary and 2 over it. Rajasthan made a below par 150 of their stipulated 20 overs.

Kolkatta started rather cautiously and with McCullum playing slowly against his attacking instincts where as gayle was at his fluent best scoring heavily. Rajsathan had the first blood in the form of Mccullum. Mascarenhas removed him for 3 of 9 balls and score was reading 25 for 1 of 4 overs. Gayle scored a quick fire 41 of 33 balls which included 2 boundaries and 4 over it. Once he departed of warne bowling Kolkata kept loosing wickets at regular intervals and the runrate was climbing up. Once Ganguly came to crease he made sure that Kolkata were in hunt till the end. Ganguly and Yashpal added 49 runs for the 6th wicket before yashpal was foxed by captain warne in the penultimate over. Kolkatta required 7 of last 6 balls and ball was handed over to kamran khan. Warne showed immense faith in this yound lad by handing over the ball to him to finish the game. He kept his captains faith with a tight line and lenght. He even even took the wicket of ganguly of the penultimate ball and made sure that kolkatta didnt won and the game was tied.

According to the new rules if their is a tie each team should play a super over. Which ever team scores more runs will win the match. Kolkatta had to bat first and they choosed Gayle, McCullum and Ganguly as their batsmen and the bowler for super over for Rajasthan was the man with golden arm for the day "Kamran Khan". For Rajsthan Yousuf Pathan, Jadeja and Warne will bat where as Mendis will bowl the super over for Kolkatta.

Kamran started of well but gave three consecutive boundaries to gayle and kolkatta managed a good 15 of their alloted one super over. Yousuf pathan came into bat the super over for rajasthan royals and mendis was to bowl for kolkatta. Mendis first ball was easily lofted to long on for an easy six and next ball was pulled ferociously for another six and tried for a hattrick with 3rd ball but couldnt connect the ball well and collected 2 runs and next ball was hammered for 4 and yousuf pathan sealed the match in just 4 balls. It was an nail bitting finish to a pulsating match.

Man of the Match was awarded to Yousuf Pathan for his 42 of 21 balls and electrifying 18 of super over to win the match. It was a perfect and Unanimous decision to make.

Kolkata Knight Riders 150 for 8 (Ganguly 46, Gayle 41, Kamran 3-18) tied with Rajasthan Royals 150 for 6 (Yusuf 42, Mendis 2-19). Rajasthan win in Super Over