India Defeats South Africa

India defeats South Africa by an innings and 58 runs to retain the No 1 spot in the ICC Test Ratings. India would have lost the Numero Uno status, if they've lost this match or even played a draw. Though, India does not have any Test match in this year, it would be very interesting to see, how long can they stay at the top.

As far as this match goes, India won emphatically, despite a fighting century by the middle order batsman hashim Amla. Amla remained unbeaten on 127 but South Africa was unable to play the necessary overs today. Had South Africa played those last 9 balls, the efforts of Harbhajan Singh (5 wickets), Amit Mishra (3 wickets) and Ishant Sharma (2 wickets) would have gone in vain.

South African batsmen (apart from Amla) only looked to pass the time in the middle and were interested in sticking to the pitch, whereas Amla attacked the bowling, as and when he got a lose delivery. India had their moments regularly, as both the spinners get wickets at regular intervals. They broke the partnerships when they seemed stubborn and dangerous. Amla was their main target; however they were unable to take his wicket. Other batsmen just played around him.

India would have however, won this game pretty easily, had the rain not made this match such a nail biting finish. Indian supporters looked down when the final overs were going on. Then came the magical over of Harbhajan Singh, who was the real hero for India on Day 5.

The Man of the Match award and the Man of the Series award was given to Hashim Amla for making 490 runs in the series.

Well, this series proves that the real winner is Test Cricket. Who can say after watching such an enthralling Test Series that Test Cricket is boring. What do you think?

India Wins Idea Cup

Zaheer Khan took 6 wickets in the second innings of Bangladesh to complete the Indian whitewash over Bangladesh. Tamim Iqbal scored a brilliant century on the third day evening and shared a century stand with Junaid Siddiqui. This was the fastest century by any Bangladeshi batsmen, surpassing the century of wicketkeeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim in the first test of this series. India took the remaining wickets and completed the formality. Bangladesh though managed to avoid the innings defeat and took a lead of 1 run. Night-watchman Shahadat Hossain made 40 runs to avoid the innings defeat.

India defeated Bangladesh in the first Test match and completed the whitewash by defeating them in the second innings. Zaheer Khan took 6 wickets in the innings and was declared as the 'Man of the Match' and 'Man of the Series'. The worst part of the series for India was injury to S Sreesanth, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh. Dravid and Yuvraj will miss the series against South Africa.

India loses first T20

India loses the first T20 against Sri Lanka here in Nagpur by 29 runs, despite a brilliant 55 off just 26 balls by Indian opener Gautam Gambhir. Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara played a splendid knock of 78 runs in just 37 balls to take Sri Lanka to a mighty 215-5 in their allotted 20 overs.

Having won the toss, Dhoni decided to bowl first, keeping in mind the dew factor, which could have played a huge role in the latter part of the game. Sri Lanka were off to a flying start, as the veteran Sanath Jayasuriya and Tilakaratne Dilshan started off brilliantly. Though Jayasuriya gave the debutant Ashok Dinda, his first international T20 wicket, he took Sri Lanka to a flyer. From there, Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara took over and started making the mockery of the Indian bowling attack. He was superb with the bat and scored 78 runs off just 37 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. He got able support from the other end in the form of Dilshan(34), Chamara Kapugedera(47) and Angelo Matthews(15 not out). The Indians on the other hand were sloppy in the fielding, as the newly appointed fielding consultant Mike Young was a mere spectator of the sloppy Indian fielders in the middle.

For India, debutants Ashish Nehra and Ashok Dinda took a wicket each. Also, Yousuf Pathan and Rohit Sharma shared a wicket apiece. Ishant Sharma, though didn’t took a wicket, but he was the most impressive Indian bowler as he gave only 22 from his 4 overs. Nehra was the most expensive who gave away 52 runs in his 4 overs.

In reply, Indian were too off to a flyer as Virender Sehwag continued his form of Test Cricket into T20 and started off in his typical style. He scored a quickfire 26 runs. Gautam Gambhir – the most consistent Indian batsmen in all the levels of cricket for India, took the toll on the Sri Lankan bowlers, especially Lasith Malinga and posted a pacy 50 off just 19 balls. He however, failed to stretch his innings and is bowled around his legs by Angelo Matthews, when he was on 55. The Indian middle order failed dramatically after the departure of the openers and Dhoni(9), Yuvraj(6), Rohit Sharma(3) and Yousuf Pathan(0) could only manage 18 runs among themselves. Only Suresh Raina tried to defy the Lankan attack with 21. The defeat could have been more shameful, if Ashish Nehra and Ashok Dinda wouldn’t have shared a useful partnership between themselves. Nehra scored 22 and Dinda scored 19.

For Sri Lanka, Kulasekara, Dilshan and debutant Pushpakumara took a wicket apiece, but the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka was the veteran Sanath Jayasuriya, who took 2 wickets for just 19 runs in his quota of 4 overs.

Gautam Gambhir became the first batsmen to complete 6 half centuries in T20 internationals. There were four debutants (two from each side) in the game. For India, Ashish Nehra and Ashok Dinda made their debuts and For Sri Lanka, Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Muthumudalige made their debuts in T20.

Indian Team Declared for Sri Lanka Series

Indian Cricket Team has been declared for the Test Series against Sri Lanka. Injured pacer Zaheer Khan is back in the Indian squad for the three match series against Sri Lanka. Also, pacer S. Sreesanth is back in the Indian team. Sreesanth has been in out of the Indian team from a long time back.

The team is as follows:

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Vice Captain: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Murali Vijay, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, S. Sreesanth, S Badrinath, Amit Mishra.

India loses the ODI Series

India, after losing to Australia by 6 wickets at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, Guwahati, lost the ODI Series against Australia. Earlier, India also lost the Hyderabad One Day by just three runs chasing a massive target of 351 runs.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and surprisingly chose to bat on a pitch that was looking green and also, the morning freshness of the wicket was bound to help the fast bowlers. Soon, it started to show it’s nature, when Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir got out when the score was 7. The centurion of the last game and only batsman to score more than 17,000 ODI runs – Sachin Tendulkar got out when the score was just 23. Soon, Yuvraj Singh got out in a strange fashion, when he dragged the ball to his own stumps, in an effort to get back to the crease. Soon followed Suresh Raina and India almost lost the game st this juncture, having been reduced to 27-5. Captain M S Dhoni and Ravinder Jadeja tried to settle the things, but they had to sacrifice the run rate for the same.

Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh’s wicket pushed India further down. Then cam Praveen Kumar, who scored a record 85 runs for the 8th wicket with Ravinder Jadeja. Praveen Kumar went on to score a half century, but India were unable to play their full quota of overs and got out on the score of 170 in 48 overs. Left arm pacer Doug Bollinger took 5 wickets.

In reply, Australia though lost the wicket of Shaun Marsh early, but after that patient innings of Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Cameron White and Michael Hussey played useful innings and took Australia to the victory target easily.

Dhoni make India bounce back

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of India hit a brilliant century to win the game for his side. He hit a splendid 124 off 107 balls and had two excellent partnerships, first with Gautam Gambhir (76 off 80 balls, 6 fours) and then with Suresh Raina (62 off 50 balls, 6 fours 1 six).

It was all started with Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bowl first. Virender Sehwag (40 runs off 31 balls, 6 fours 1 six) smashed Aussie bowlers all over the park, however Sachin Tendulkar missed out today, as he scored just 4. Sehwag then joined hands with Gautam Gambhir and they took the score to 67. Here, Sehwag gave a catch off the bowling of Mitchell Johnson. The returning Yuvraj Singh came and started hitting strokes all over the park. But his stint was short lived, as he scored run-a-ball 24 and was caught by Peter Siddle off his own bowling. Then came the ‘Captain Cool’. He started taking quick singles, hit the odd boundary and along with Gambhir, he took the score to 216. This partnership witnessed the fifties of Gambhir and Dhoni. Dhoni and Gambhir hit the Aussies to all corners of the ground. With a confusion between both of them, Gambhir’s innings ended with a direct hit. Gambhir made 76 runs off 80 balls, with 6 fours. Once Gambhir departed, Dhoni attacked the Aussie bowlers even more fiercely; his partner was Suresh Raina. Raina also supported his captain with some lusty blows. Both of them added 136 runs off 93 balls. Raina’s fifty came in just 42 balls. Dhoni completed yet another ODI hundred in style by hitting Shane Watson for a big six. He hit one more six on the very next balls. His century came off just 94 balls, as he finished on 124 runs off just 107 balls. India finished on 357-7 off their 50 overs. With Dhoni’s century, it was the first century by an Indian captain against Australia. Mitchell Johnson took 75-3.

In reply, Australia started in a similar fashion and soon lost the wicket of Tim Paine, when he was dismissed off the bowling of Praveen Kumar. Shane Watson and captain Ricky Ponting took the innings from there, but were never able to cope with the rising run rate. Soon, Watson perished off the bowling of Ishant Sharma. Soon, Praveen Kumar dismissed Ricky Ponting and Australia slipped further down. Within a few overs, it was clear that Australia would not be winning this match. Indian spinners, especially Yuvraj Singh and Ravinder Jadeja bowled well and never allowed the Aussie batsmen took the upper hand. Michael Husey was the highest scorer for Australia, as he scored 53. Ravinder Jadeja took 3 wickets for 39 runs. Ashish Nehra took 2 wickets, so did Ishant Sharma.

Indian Captain was the obvious choice for the Man of the Match award.

With this victory, India level the series 1-1 and would be keen to win the third game and take 2-1 lead in the series.

Australia pins India by 4 runs

Harbhajan Singh's and Praveen Kumar's heroics took India agonizingly close to an enthralling win before the hosts slumped to a four run defeat against Australia in the first match of the seven One Day Internationals series on Sunday.

At 201-7 in their chase of a 293-run victory target, India seemed heading for a comprehensive defeat before Praveen (40 not out) and Harbhajan (49) came up with a defiant 84-run stand off just 57 balls for the eighth wicket (an Indian record) that took them to the doors of victory.

Earlier, Australia set up a victory target of 292 runs. Tim Paine, Michael Hussey and captain Ricky Ponting played splendidly to set up this huge score. Ashish Nehra took 2 Aussie wickets, whereas Ishant Sharma looked in good form after a long time and he ended up taking 3 Aussie wickets.

For India, top order batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag failed badly, however, Gautam Gambhir showed what a gutsy cricketer he is. He hanged on for 85 deliveries and scored an important half century. He scored 68 with 6 fours and 1 six. There were useful contributions from Virat Kohli and the skipper MS Dhoni, but with the wicket of Ravinder Jadeja, India were reduced to 201-7 in 40 overs. It looked like as if the match will have a one sided end. But Praveen Kumar and Harbhajan Singh have other plans. They played smart cricket and Bhajji showed his 'liking' for Aussie bowling once again with a brilliant innings of 49 runs off just 31 balls with 4 fours and 3 big sixes, whereas Praveen Kumar justified his batting talent and he remained unbeaten on 40 off just 32 balls with 5 fours and 1 six.

If India would have won the game, the Man of the Match would certainly had been Harbhajan Singh, but with the Aussies winning it, Michael Hussey was adjudged the Man of the Match for his brilliant 74 off 54 balls with 8 fours and 1 six.

What a series opener it was? I can't wait for the second match which is scheduled to held at Nagpur's Vidharbh Cricket Association ground on Wednesday, Oct 28.