Cricket: Wounded Laxman steers india to one wicket win

India Vs Australia First Test

I am writing this at 01:41 PM CST, watching the final day session two after lunch. Where india need 54 runs and Johnson is bowling to ishant.

After a long time india is looking beyound Srilanka. Yeah there is a surprise for you, India is going to play Australia their favourite opponents. Lately India Vs Australia series has been one of the toughest and closest.

First test started with the same promise. As usual Dhoni lost the toss and Ponting choose to bat first. India's bowling was spearheaded by Zaheer, others to assist him where Ishant, Harbhajan and Ojha. Zaheer got rid of Katich early, but ponting and watson got the things going. Raina brilliantly ran out ponting and gave india the much needed momentum to make inroads at regular intervals. Watson stood firm and completed his century at other end. India kept on the pressure but paine and johnson took them past the 400 run score. Zaheer took a five for and paine missed what could have been his maiden test century. He made a patient 92. Australia scored 428 in their first innings.

India started their first inning with their most successful opening partners sehwag and gambhir. India started well and where going run a ball until gambhir was out. Sehwag soon followed him after a brisk half century. After night watchmen ishants departure tendulkar and dravid held the innings together and scored half centuries respectively. After dravid's departure raina came and gave support to sachin who was eventullay out 2 short of his century. Once sachin was out Australia crawled back into the game and polished off the tail and india were allout for 405 runs. Australia got the upperhand by taking a 23 run lead. Johnson took a five for australia and for india sehwag,dravid, tendulkar and raina scored half centuries.

Australia after their 23 run lead started their second innings to build the lead. Watson started positively and scored at a brisk rate. In no time he reached his half century and with katich was looking good to extend the lead futher more. Ishant who was wayward in the first innings got his rhythm back and took three quick wickets to peg australia back. Indian spinners took the charge next and had four wickets between them as Zaheer returned to complete the tail with his ferocious reverse swing. Australia where all out for 192 and setting india a target of 216 runs. For australia watson made half century and for india zaheer and ishant took 3 wickets a piece.

India's chase was hit right in the first over when Gambhir was adjudged LBW when the ball was clearly going leg side. Inspite of the early first wicket india tried to score runs at faster rate, generally thats the case though when sehwag is around in the middle. End of the fourth day with late burst form the australia bowlers india were reduced to 55 for 4 and still needing 161 on the lastday and only 6 wickets in hand which includes laxman who had injured his back and will bat only if required.

Fifth day started with all the possible results possible. Tendulkar and zaheer started well and were steady until zaheer was out to hauritz. Laxman came to bat with raina as runner as he had a bad back. Laxman and Tendulkar started the counter attack and started scoring at a faster pace and didnt allowed any bowler to settle. Tendulkar was out for 38, dhoni and harbhajan followed him soon and india required another 92 runs and just two wickets in hand. Then came Ishant to support laxman in the middle. Ishant blocked the australia bowlers with determination and on the other hand helped laxman score runs at will. They added 81 runs and where almost at touching distance that another bad umpiring saw Ishant walking back to pavilion. Wicket of Ishant raise lot of hopes for australians as they were just a wicket away from victory. Ojha looked very tensed but he managed to hold on. Ojha was lucky to miss a close LBW call and a run out for which he got four overthrows. He flicked the ball towards leg and completed 2 runs and gave india victory by one run.

Laxman was unbeaten on 73 from 79 balls as india registered their first one wicket win in tests. Laxman was the man of the moment, no one knows why he plays so well against a team which is hightly rated for their skills in cricket. He was given a special prize for this efforts during the presentation ceremony.

Zaheer was adjudged man of the match for his crucial 8 wickets.

Score: India 405 (Tendulkar 98, Raina 86, Johnson 5/64) and 216 for 9 (Laxman 73*, Hilfenhaus 4/57, Bollinger 3/32) beat Australia 428 (Watson 126, Paine 92, Zaheer 5/94) and 192 (Watson 56, Ishant 3/34, Zaheer 3/43) by 1 wicket

Cricket: "Chennai Super Kings are the Kings of IPL 2010"

It all came to the Finale when Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians reached the Finals. Mumbai Indians were the favourites who topped the table in league stage and convinsingly outplayed Bangalore in the first Semifinal.

On the other hand Chennai barely made it to the Semifinal. Dhoni who took them to the Semifinal made sure they won the semifinal. They won semifinal but not as convinsingly as Mumbai Indians. But they were hungry for the title as they are the first team to reach Finals on two occasions.

Chennai super kings won the toss and chose to bat first. It was a decent start for them where Murli Vijay was at his best and Hayden at his worst. Once Murli and Hayden departed wickets kept falling. Raina who was dropped earlier played anchor role for while. While the wickets were falling at other end he made sure he stayed till the end. With Dhoni he scroed 72 runs in less than 6 overs which proved very crucial for chennai. Raina remained unbeaten on 57 and helped chennai scored 160 for 5 in their allotted 20 overs. For mumbai Fernando took 2 wickets and was very economical.

Mumbai had a disastorous start in this tournment. They lost shikhar dhawan in the second over to Bollinger. Tendulkar again played a key role and played elegant shots which were pleasing to eyes. Pressure on runrate and rotation of strike marred the chase for mumbai. All of a sudden increase in required rate made mumbai to loose wickets. Tendulkar too perished after making a polished 48. It was all left to Pollard who actually was send very late in the innings. Though he was send very late and he tried to hopes for Mumbai by stiking Bollinger the bowler in form for 22 runs. But once rayudu was run out, Pollard too couldnt stick around longer and eventually Dhoni applied completed pleasure on Mumbai and they fell short by 22 runs. For chennai Jakati took two crucial wickets.

So after the first edition denied Chennai their IPL cup, they made sure they win IPL 2010. Tendulkar was man of the series for his consistancy and Raina was man of the final for his crucial innings.

So Chennai are the IPL 2010 Champions.

Cricket: "IPL Comes back home"

Indian Premier League is back to where it started. Yeah IPL is back to india gain. This 45 days IPL tournment will kick start on March 12th 2010. First match is between Hyderabad Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders. The defending champions from first will play against the defending chapions from last.

Expectations are sky rocketing and all the team are gearing up for a scintallating summer in india. It will be excellent cricket with competing players to display their talent on a stage set for world audience.

Cricket: "India Clinches a one run thriller against South Africa"

After winning the Test series against the South African's which made them (India) stable at first place in ICC Test rankings. India took on South Africa in the one day series, there another ranking in stake for both teams, "Second ranking". As Australia is already way ahead then both the teams, they will fight for the second place and slight advantage is for India as they are slightly ahead then South Africa.

India lost the toss and were asked to bat first. India started badly when they lost Tendulkar cheaply. Dinesh karthik who wants to make a mark and cement his place in One-day International was promoted up the order.