India the World Champions 2011

The World Champions 2011 ***INDIA***

Before the start of the world cup india where the firm favourites and rightly so they have beaten all the earlier world champions to lift the most prestigious cup for the very second time.

Indians had to wait another 28 years to see this to happen. In 2003 they came very close but coudnt pass the final hurdle to lift the cup. It was a huge relief for a country which is frenetic about cricket. After the earlier hiccup they came back strongly to show the world what champions are all about.

Road to the final:

Initial group matches:

First they have beaten bangladesh quite convincgly and then tied their match against england in a thriller. Then won not so convincingly against ireland and lost their only match against south africa. won a crucial match against west indies (two time world champions). booked their date against three time defending champions Australia.

Quarter final against australia:

India did well enough to restrict australia for a 250 odd runs. They had initial hiccups before yuvraj got them home with his allround performance. Raina gave a good support, without which tail whould have been exposed and india were at the edge of loosing the match. In the end with all the smiles india with the win where all set to play pakistan in an important encounter in a worldcup semifinal.

Semi final against Pakistan:

The mother of all battles "India Vs Pakistan" match. India had 100% record against pakistan in world cup matches. India batted first, with tendulkar getting so many lives for his 83 india pilled up a good target. Pakistan consistantly lost wickets at regular intervals and never looked threatening in pursuit of the chase. In the end india won quite convincingly and defeated another world champions on their way to final.

Final Against Srilanka:

India came to finals of the world cup for the third time. India dominated the first half of srilankas innings with wickets at regular innings but Jayawardenes century took srilanka to a respectable score. India lost two early wickets of sehwag and tendulkar and where in deep trouble. Then gambhir and kohli tried to repair the damage and as they were set kohli was out. Kohli's wicket got Dhoni to the crease and he came with a determination to win. He dominated the parnership and scored fluently and never let required rate get out of reach, once felt it was safe launched huge hits and took india home with the prestigious world cup 2011 edition.

It was a great victory and a moment to cherish and celebrate in indian cricket for a very long time. To all fellow indians "Congratulations".......... :)

Cricket: World Cup 2011 Fever Part - 1 Minnows

Just couple of days left for the World Cup to start. Here is an exclusive preview of what will be the 10th World cup in limited overs cricket.

World cup is returning to the subcontinet after 1996 world cup which was won by Srilanka. I will give a detailed review on each world cup in separate posts. Here i will take you to the teams competing and their strengths and weaknesses.

First lets look at the minnows in other words the underdogs. In this section i will review Netherlands (also called Holland), Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. It would be foolish to call Bangladesh a minnow as they have almost defeated all the test playing nations quite convincingly recently. But to be precise lets add them here.

Bangladesh
As said in all the minnows Bangladesh leads them in all respect. Infact Bangladesh is a serious threat to all the main teams in this world cup in various respects. Local conditions, spin friendly pitches, local support are few to name. Apart from these one of the biggest asset is their attitude thru which they have clean sweeped New Zealand in one dayers. This is a perfect platform for them to showcase their talent and show the world that it is not far behind.

Ireland
Next comes Ireland. They were the surprise package in 2007 world cup. They play serious cricket and few of their team memebers have eventually made it to the England main squad. They have their strengths and can surprise the main teams and one of the team to watch out for. Their only draw back will be not enough experience in world tournments and playing with big teams.

Zimbabwe
Next comes Zimbabwe. They were once transforming to a good cricketing side but fate had differnt version to their story as their test status was revoked and their main players withdrew from squad and they had to start all over again. Now they are in a stage of transforming again, but in their early stages. They can win with minnows but it will hard to say that they can spring any surprises against main squads. But there is a strong chance of they making quarters, which in itself is a big victory and morale boosting one.
Kenya
Next comes Kenya. They were the promising side when they debuted in 1996 world cup and surprised everyone when they defeated westindies. In 2003 too they came till semifinals, though thru some forfeited matches in their favour. They are a side who lack the big match experience but can be devastating on their day. But in current circumstances their biggest hurdle will be the minnows itself. Its highly unlikely that they will make it to the quarters, but if they do it will be good for kenyan cricket.

Netherlands
Next comes Netherlands. Netherlands is also one of the promising sides in world cricket. They are in and out in world cups. They have match winning players but they havent performed as a team in recent times. This will be a perfect platform to show the world that they belong here. Its highly unlikely that they will make it to the quarters but will give good fights for the minnows.

Canada
Last but not the least canada. Canada is the weekest team in this world cup. They will try not to be last in this world cup. This world cup will give them good platform, international exposure and experience. They will give a close fight to minnows in their group and try to prove things wrong.

All the best to the minnows in their respective matches and look farward to some surprises and upsets in this tournment. Minnows and underdogs are the primary teams who create and define the terms surprises and upsets, so look farward to it.