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#ClingOnToTheCup

24 Tuesday Feb 2015

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India’s pursuit to protect their World Cup title began remarkably well as they beat Pakistan by 76 runs in their opening game of the tournament. The Indian team appeared to be well settled and though it wasn’t the most experienced team the World Cup has seen; it still looked highly competitive and ready to take on the world.

After the hype of the India vs. Pakistan match finally sizzled out, it was down to business. The next team India were to face was South Africa, a very unpredictable and dangerous World Cup team. South Africa were coming off a high, they had been playing extremely well in the lead up to the tournament and were expected to be very competitive. However South Africa and World Cups do not go well together. They had already had a shakey start against Zimbabwe losing their top four wickets for 83 runs. It was only thanks to David Miller and JP Duminy were they able to reach 300+ runs.

Regardless of South Africa’s World Cup antics, they had never lost a game against India in a World Cup. This game was to be their fouth against each other, with South Africa having chased down every total set by India in the three previous head-to-heads.

MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. A fairly strange decision considering India’s chasing record and the fact that all three loses to South Africa have been where India batted first. However India’s bowling unit have appeared a lot more consistent recently and if Indian batsmen could set a large total and then put pressure on the South African top order, they could be in with a chance.

It all began quite badly for India as a huge mix-up between the openers left Rohit Sharma well short of his crease in the third over. The wicket brought in the the man of the match against Pakistan and everyone already seemed to have forgotten that a wicket had just fallen. The cheers from the crowd as Virat Kohli walked onto the pitch were deafening. Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli toiled away and put on a great patnership of 125. They began very slowly and the run rate didn’t hit four until the 14th over. The pair batted well, they took very few risks after the first wicket fell and gave away only a few chances.

South Africa on the other hand fielded terribly. Considering they are one of the sharpest fielding teams around, it was amazing how many misfields there were. Dhawan was dropped by Hashim Amla on 53 and JP Duminy missed a runout chance; had either of these chances been taken, South Africa could have been facing a much smaller total to chase. Not only that, a lot of runs were given away through poor ground fielding. Imran Tahir removed Kohli on 46 but it was a bad ball and a poor shot that got him as he smacked it straight into the hands of Faf du Plessis. The next man in was Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane played a great innings and ran very well between the wickets with Dhawan. He showed true class hitting seven fours and three sixes. Dale Steyn looked almost like an ordinary bowler against these two and after South Africa lost Vernon Philander to a hamstring injury, their bowling department looked weak. Wayne Parnell ended up bowling the extra overs and was the most expensive South African bowler in the history of the World Cup, he conceded 85 runs in his nine overs.

Dhawan went on to make an incredible 137 to anchor the Indian innings. Once he got out it began to resemble their’s against Pakistan but with seven overs to go and 261 runs on the board, all the batsmen had to do were come out and swing. Had Raina or Dhoni been able to connect from the first ball, India could have been looking at 320+. They still ended on a highly respectable 307, the highest target India have set out of the four games.

307 might be a decent target against most teams, but not against South Africa if they settle in. India still had their work cut out for them and unless they were able to take early wickets, they would be in some serious trouble. Dhoni stuck with the same bowling attack that played against Pakistan, it appeared to be a good mix of bowlers that complimented each other well and once again they did not disappoint. India’s bowlers were able to do what South Africa’s could not. They picked off the batsmen at crucial intervals. Just when partnerships were beginning to look dangerous, another wicket fell. Both Quinton de Cock and Hashim Amla fell early. At 40-2 from 11 overs, South Africa needed to consolidate and gather themselves just as Kohli and Dhawan had done. It was not as though they were in any trouble with Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers at the crease. In fact, South Africa were still well in the game. The pair looked like they were on the right track as they added 68 to the total but at a crucial time, AB de Villers was run out going for the second run. There was no need to take the extra risk so early on in the innings. Faf du Plessis top scored with 55, he initially looked like he might go on to make a big score but once again, the Indians broke through.  From there it was only downhill for South Africa, they went from 133-4 to 158-8 in less than 10 overs. The South African innings ended 130 runs short of India’s total.

It was an anti-climactic game considering how competitive both teams are and how each game of the three previous World Cup head-to-heads have gone. It did however prove just how capable and hungry the Indian’s are to retain their World Cup title. They may well be in with a shot if they can keep up their momentum.

The holy grail of cricket matches

19 Thursday Feb 2015

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15th of February, probably the most anticipated day of the past four years for most Indians. Everyone forgot about Valentine’s Day in all the excitement for the 15th of Feb. India vs. Pakistan.

It was an incredibly hot afternoon in Adelaide and all the Indian and Pakistani fans had swarmed into the city for the day. The streets were bathed in blues and greens and the air filled with drumming and chanting. The Adelaide Oval saw over 40,000 fans gather in the stadium for the match in wigs and costimes with flags and drums, it was an incredible sight. The match was set to be the most watched game in the history of cricket. It was expected that over a billion viewers would tune in to watch India vs Pakistan.

It was MS Dhoni who won the toss and decided to bat first, the crowd noise when he won the toss was as though India had already won the game.

The match began well for Pakistan when they removed Rohit Sharma early on in the eighth over, but that was their only significant breakthrough until the 46th over. Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan put on a great partnership of 127 runs and Virat Kohli went on to once again impress the cricketing world and score an incredible century. The young star smashed through more records as he became the first Indian to score a century in a World Cup against Pakistan. He also became the first Indian to score a century in an World Cup hosted by Australia. Kohli hadn’t had the best time in the Carlton tri-series against England and Australia even though he had played beautifully in the Test matches but as always,  when it really mattered, Kohli stepped up to the challenge. It could have ended very differently for Pakistan though had they taken all of their chances. Kohli was dropped on three and 76 and once he was dismissed, India faced some real trouble with five wickets falling in the space of 24 runs. Had Pakistan dismissed him earlier they may have been chasing a much more reachable total.

Misbah Ul Haq ran out Shikhar Dhawan on 73 when India were on 163 but that only brought in Suresh Raina. A very strange decision as Ajinkya Rahane was yet to bat. Whatever Dhoni’s reasoning was to push Raina up the order, it appeared to be a good one. Raina hit three sixes and five fours in his innings and scored at better than a run a ball. He took some of the pressure of Kohli which likely helped the vice-captain reach his century. India didn’t lose another wicket until 273 runs when Kohli edged the ball to Umar Akmal in the 46th over. It looked as though they would easily reach 320+ runs considering they were only three wickets down even without Kohli, especially with Dhoni ‘the finisher’ to come. However, India stuttered. As soon as Kohli got out, Raina followed suit along with Ravindra Jadeja and Ajinkya Rahane who got out for three and a duck respectively. Dhoni contributed to the total but only 27 runs were scored in the final four overs and it almost looked like India would not reach 300. Sohail Khan dragged back the Indians as he went on to pick up five wickets. Understandably the Indian batsmen were going in to swing for the ball considering their total already and the fact that they had wickets in hand. Though with four overs to go and two set batsmen just being dismissed, it was not an ideal situation. India could have ended on a much higher total had Raina become slightly more careful once Kohli was dismissed.

Regardless of India’s ending, 300 runs was going to be a difficult chase for Pakistan. They lost their first wicket fairly early but slowly built back up. Haris Sohail along with Ahmed Shehzad put on a 68 run partnership for the second wicket. Once again though, India broke through the partnership as it was beginning to look good. Misbah Ul Haq, the captain, was the next man in who had rescued Pakistan on more than one occasion. Once again his team needed him to perform but they could not provide the support to back him up. The next three wickets fell in the space of two runs leaving Pakistan 103-5. Shahid Afridi came in and made a start, he hit a six but never looked completely comfortable. Had Afridi been having a good day, Pakistan might have gotten much closer to the 300 target. However he was removed by another great spell from Mohammed Shami and from there on it was clear that India had the game. Misbah went on to score 76 but Pakistan still fell 76 runs short of the total.

The Indian bowlers did not look like their usual uncompetitive selves, Dhoni coaxed fiery spells out of his fast bowlers and used them very effectively. Shami picked up five wickets and both Mohit Sharma and Umesh Yadav picked up two each. The fast bowlers were well backed up by Ravindra Jadeja who took a wicket and Ravi Ashwin who bowled three maiden overs and also picked up a wicket. It was an all-round strong opening performance by India and a positive start in their quest to retain the World Cup title.

The warm up warnings

13 Friday Feb 2015

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Over the past week the warm-up matches have shown exactly why this world cup is going to be an exciting one. Of the last 14 pre tournament games there have been some expected wins but more importantly there have been some surprising wins and some very close games! The World Cup title is very much still up for grabs.

The warm-up games began with Australia beating the 2011 World Cup champions. As expected, India’s bowling attack were not up to scratch. They conceded too many runs and did not seem to challenge the Australian batsmen at all. Both David Warner and Glen Maxwell (who performed incredibly with the bat in the 2014 IPL) scored centuries and led Australia to a score of 371 runs. In response India were only able to muster 265 all out. However it was a great start for Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu and especially for Shikhar Dhawan (who had been out of form) as they all scored half centuries. Luckily for India the only really troublesome pace attack they will face through the group stages is South Africa’s and so they have a chance to improve before facing the hosts.

The next match went down as expected with South Africa beating Sri Lanka, however they only won through D/L and were five wickets down for 188 chasing 279, it could have gone either way. Match four however was where the interesting things really began. England bowled out the West Indies team for 122 runs, and then went on to beat them with nine wickets and 163 balls to spare. Despite this crushing win, England then went on to lose their second warm-up game to Pakistan.

The biggest surprise of the warm-up though, came from Scotland. Not only did they crush Ireland by a margin of 179 runs, but they went on to score 310 runs chasing West Indies’ score of 313 in their second game, an incredible start from an associate nation. Though they have done extremely well in the warm up games, Scotland will find it extremely difficult to qualify. Being in pool A they will face both host nations who are in great nick along with England and Sri Lanka. Expectations of Ireland were not diminished fully even after their crushing loss to Scotland though. They went on to bowl Bangladesh out for less than 200 and chased down the runs in 47 overs. With the pools in favour of Ireland, we could still see them in the quarter finals.

Unfortunately once again South Africa’s World Cup antics continue as they lost their warm up game against New Zealand, they very much missed the pace and aggression of Dale Steyn and the stability of Hashim Amla. New Zealand who seem to have peaked at the perfect time piled on the runs scoring a total of 331 runs. South Africa then went on to score a total of 197 all out with only JP Duminy making a significant contribution to the batting. Regardless of two key players being rested, considering the quality of the rest of the team and their recent form it was extremely surprising they ended up 62-6 from 14 overs. If South Africa rely so heavily on these two players they will have a serious problem if one of them gets injured during the tournament.

Once again, Australia appear to be on top and ready to take the title but it could well end up being an epic clash of the hosts in the finals.

World Cup 2015: Predictions

01 Sunday Feb 2015

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After the controversial exclusion of key players by boards, the removal of some prominent spinners for their bowling action, fielding changes to make life even harder for the bowlers, removal of the super overs, the reinstatement of super over for the final, the blocking of associate nations and the reinstatement of them, the ICC 2015 World Cup is finally ready to begin.

A few new associate members will be joining the 14 in this year’s World Cup. Of those in the 2011 World Cup, only Ireland remains to fight another day. Hopefully they will cause a few more upsets this year to make the group stages just that little bit more tantalising. Ireland will be fired up especially after they weren’t even given the chance to qualify even though they had scored more runs than England in ODIs when the squads were announced. As unlikely as it might be, Ireland could make it past group stages if they play well and have a little luck, especially with West Indies missing three key players including Sunil Narine and Pakistan missing their top ranked bowler Saeed Ajmal. Also with the associates in question for the 2019 World Cup, Ireland have nothing to lose.

Bar the small possibility of Ireland qualifying, there is no room to question the other nations. Australia and New Zealand both have home advantage and are coming into the tournament on a high. South Africa have been smashing more and more records and as usual are expected to fly through the group stages with ease. India will need to work a lot harder than they did for the 2011 World Cup, their bowlers lack the pace required in Australia and with the new fielding rules their front line bowlers will have a much harder task. Dhoni’s men will be relying heavily on their batsmen who though are all match winners, will need to step up if they want to retain the Cup. Especially Shikhar Dhawan who appears to be completely out of sorts. However it is never so easy to rule India out when it comes to a World Cup. Sri Lanka have the experience and skill to get through the group stages but if Lasith Malinga’s fitness keeps him out, they are not likely to make it through the quarter finals unless Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara can work some magic. England under the leadership of Eoin Morgan look fresher than they have looked in a while. Their bowling side looks invigorated and they have had a chance to get a feel for the Aussie conditions. Though overall this year there appear to be three main contenders for the title.

The 2015 World Cup is probably the best shot New Zealand have ever had of winning. Led by the vastly skilled and experienced Brendon McCullum, the black caps could easily be heading to the MCG on the 29th of March. For the first time in a long time, New Zealand look like a competitive team. For once, when talking about the squad there is more than one name worth mentioning in both bowling and batting, Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson are both at the top of their game and the side has been blessed with a solid middle order who could each take New Zealand over the line. However, they haven’t had the easiest of rides, nerves have played a huge part in the past and if the team don’t start fresh and push those memories out of their minds, the may end up on the same path again.

Australia under the leadership of Michael Clarke most definitely have what it takes to win the Cup. With David Warner in full form and explosive players like James Faulkner they wont have much to worry about, especially with bowlers like Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood to back them up. With the home side advantage, it would have been easy to say this would be Australia’s year. However, there is one major problem Australia face, Michael Clarke’s hamstring. The entire outcome of the tournament could well change from this one muscle of this one man. In his absence, Steve Smith who played superbly during the India series would captain the side. Smith captained Australia through the Test series against India and has shown his skill as a batsman but under tight pressure situations, he showed cracks and became agitated more than once. With the pressure on through the series and the fiery nature of the Aussie side, Clarke’s calming presence might be necessary for Australia to win.

Last but by no means least, possibly the most entertaining World Cup side who have missed out on so many occasions due to dropped catches, run outs and rain rules. South Africa, the top ranked Test team, with some of the best batsmen and bowlers in the world right now will always on paper look competitive. However, that is just not enough, South Africa have made a habit of getting themselves into situations where one minor slip knocks them out of the tournament. It is surprising that haven’t ever won an ICC World Cup especially with batsmen like Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers who just recently broke roughly four records in one match and bowlers like Dale Steyn. Though this time round, South Africa look much more settled with their side even through the middle order. If they can hold onto their catches and if de Villiers can avoid any run outs, South Africa may have more than a chance of claiming their first title.

Overall, Australia seem to have a slight upper hand though. Even without Michael Clarke the hosts appear to have found a well balanced team with a lot of fire and they could well pull it off.

South Africa’s ‘pink day’ magic continues.

21 Wednesday Jan 2015

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In 2006, the South African ODI squad in their pink uniform chased down what was the highest ODI total (between two test playing nations) at the time. Australia went in to bat first and led by Ricky Ponting who scored 164, racked up a grand total of 434 runs. A formidable 1st innings test total let alone ODI total, something teams would be delighted with for a full and a half worth of play. To go at a run rate of 8.68 for 50 overs is more than incredible, something no one expected South Africa to chase down. Led by Herschelle Gibbs who scored 175, South Africa did exactly that and chased down Australia’s mighty total.

On Sunday in Johannesburg, South Africa smashed through their own record against the West Indies to set up a first innings total of 439 runs, only losing two wickets with their top three batsmen all scoring centuries. Hashim Amla scored a career best 153 not out and along with Rilee Rossouw who scored his maiden century they put on a 247-run partnership. Amla and Rossouw’s partnership lasted until the 39th over, they had set a strong base and within the next 10 overs even if South Africa had added another 100 runs they would have been happy with that score.

AB de Villiers however, had other ideas. When given any freedom he is at his most dangerous and this was the perfect opportunity for him to free up and hit. The South African ODI captain faced only 44 balls (roughly seven overs) and ended his innings with a score of 149, four less than Hashim Amla who stayed at the crease for the entire 50 overs. de Villiers beat Sanath Jayasuriya’s record of the fastest ODI fifty and smashed Corey Anderson’s record of scoring a century in 36 balls. de Villiers racked up his century in a mere 31 balls. Of his 44 balls he belted 16 sixes to equal Rohit Sharma’s record number and played out only three dot balls.

There was no stopping de Villiers, no matter what the West Indies put forward, the bad balls were put away but so were the good ones. Jason Holder had no answers, never before had a West Indian bowler gone for 90+ runs in an ODI innings and here de Villiers had forced two above 90. The second wicket partnership lasted 67 balls with the run rate reaching an incredible 17.12 and de Villiers’ strike rate reaching 339, the first time a batsman has made a 100+ score at a 300+ strike rate.

The innings finally came to an end and West Indies were relieved from their beating. It wasn’t over though, West Indies still had to climb mount Everest and they did not have the batting experience or the depth that South Africa did. They were severely missing the experience and explosiveness of Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard who were left out of the series and the World Cup. With a fairly new side, most of the weight was resting on the shoulders of one man, Chris Gayle. If Gayle had gotten going, he could have scored a massive total and kept the run rate within reach for the rest of the team and give them a chance. However he was dismissed very early on and West Indies’ hope of reaching the total diminished drastically. They went on to reach 291 runs and on any other day it would have been a decent total, one that most teams would accept at the start of an innings, but against the pink uniform, they fell 148 runs short.

One session can change everything.

12 Monday Jan 2015

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India drew the final game to the end the series 2-0. A win was always a possibility with Virat Kohli at the crease and wickets in hand, but once again a bad session crushed India’s chances just as it had done through the entire series.

At Lunch on day five of the final test series, India require 276 runs with nine wickets in hand. The morning session got off to a steady start for India, Lokesh Rahul and Murali Vijay made a decent start. Nathan Lyon was the man to break the partnership and this brought Rohit Sharma. The first ball must have sent a chill down the Indian captain’s spine as Sharma missed the ball and was almost stumped by Brad Haddin.

Vijay and Sharma went through a drought as five maidens were bowled by Australia with a beautiful spell from Josh Hazlewood. Sharma was stuck on zero for a while and Australia looked like they were working up to a wicket. However Sharma finally got off the mark and went on to play some beautiful shots of Nathan Lyon’s bowling.

Once again though, India hit another rough patch, with just over 50 overs to go, Vijay was dropped at short cover by Shaun Marsh. You could see the anguish on Steve Smith’s face as the chance to break the partnership was fumbled. Soon after (as he usually does between 20-40 runs) Sharma played a loose shot on 39 and Steve Smith made absolutely no mistake at slip. This brought in India’s best hope. The Captain. Captain Kohli was there again as he was in Adelaide, could he pull India over the line this time? Murali Vijay got another reprieve as a lbw was not given out. India were wobbling and if another wicket had fallen, Australia might have ended the series 3-0.

With Kohli and Vijay at the crease India added another 74 runs to the total and India were looking set to end on a high. That was until the third session began. India needed 189 runs with eight wickets in hand. Vijay was caught behind by Haddin when India were on 178 and from there it began to look like a classic Indian collapse. Five wickets fell for 39 runs, with Suresh Raina getting his second duck of the test.

However this tail would not give up so easily. It was a much stronger tail than the one that faced Australia in Adelaide and they would not give up without a fight, especially with Ajinkya Rahane at the other end to guide them. Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar faced almost 12 overs and played beautifully. None of Smith’s bowlers could break the partnership. Rahane in particular was impressive, he stayed calm and collect and was not drawn into playing an unnecessary shot. As a player who likes to get off to a flyer he showed some new colours, ones that India will be glad to see more of.

Though India did not win the test, they had improved from Adelaide. They began the fourth session positively with a win in mind but they did not allow one bad session to cost them the entire five day match.

India are ushering in a new era of Test match cricket.

06 Tuesday Jan 2015

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MS Dhoni announced his retirement from Test match cricket following the series defeat in Australia. With one match to go it was a very surprising and ‘no muss no fuss’ end to Dhoni’s Test match career, one that suited his style well.

MS Dhoni captained India through a roller coaster of series’. His career began on a massive high with India winning eight of their first 11 Tests under his leadership. Dhoni went on to guide India to the become ICC no.1 ranked Test side, win the Champions Trophy, the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup. He was one of, if not THE most remarkable captain India have ever had.

Over the past six years, Dhoni has played a remarkable 398 international games (including IPL and Champions League). He has played 90 Test matches for India, scored 4876 runs and effected 294 dismissals. MS Dhoni had an incredible career and on top of all his achievements, he was attempting to transition a very young Indian side. During Dhoni’s reign, four of India’s greats retired, making his accomplishments look even more monumental.

When Dhoni retired, he handed over the torch to Virat Kohli. Kohli has been India’s star performer over the past few years, especially in ODIs where he has pulled India over the line on several occasions. During his captaincy of the first Test at Adelaide he scored two centuries and brought India within touching distance of a win. He is a fiery and hot-headed captain, the complete opposite of Dhoni which may be a good thing now there seems to be a slightly more settled side with the likes of Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane performing well.

However it is unfair to call Dhoni a defensive captain when he was trying to build an entirely new team without the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. Especially when India had no solid pace attack, with Ishant Sharma bowling all over the place and Umesh Yadav plagued by injuries. Only recently has India’s bowling attack looked threatening enough to take 20 wickets abroad (though not including Steve Smith though who has been Australia’s lifeline as current leading run scorer for the series and currently averaging 145.25).

The fourth and final Test of the series will be a real Test for Kohli and Smith, Australia and India have a long history of smashing each other… only in their home series’. The last overseas win was by India in Perth and since then it has been 14-0 from 1 Tests to the home side. Over 10 years ago was the last time either of these teams won a series in the others’ home country. Australia under the leadership of Adam Gilchrist won the series 2-1 in India.

Without Mitchell Johnson playing the Sydney Test, and with their new aggressive captain, India have their best chance of breaking the streak before Australia are given another shot.

A lifetimes worth of emotions rolled into five days

15 Monday Dec 2014

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The entire cricketing world stopped spinning on the 25th of November. It remained frozen in time as Australia and the rest of the world mourned the loss of Philip Hughes until the first test between India and Australia began at the Adelaide Oval on the 9th of December.

The opening ceremony of the test was a beautifully dedicated moment towards Hughes. 408 was painted onto the pitch, Hughes was named 13th man and the crowd applauded for 63 seconds in honour of Hughes’ final score.

Australia won the toss and elected to bat first, David Warner was clear from the start on his intent. He smashed three fours from both the second and third over and seemed to be in as great form as ever. It took until the fourth over for a bouncer to be bowled by a brave Varun Aaron and cricket finally started to feel normal again. India removed Chris Rogers and Shane Watson fairly quickly but fell behind as Warner continued to score at more than a run-a-ball. By the 25th over, he had scored 77 runs and raised his bat twice at 50 and 63 to once again commemorate his teammate .

David Warner and Michael Clarke dominated the Indian bowlers through the day. They seemed untroubled and Warner reached his century with ease. Clarke’s injuries flared up again and he retired hurt on 60 with Australia at 206-2 giving India the chance to break through with a new unsettled batsman. Steve Smith who has been in great form continued in the place of Clarke and pushed the score on. Australia went on to score an immense 517 runs with three centurions including Smith who ended on 162 not out, Warner and Clarke who came back out to play after retiring hurt.

517 seemed like a daunting total in itself but appeared almost laughably unattainable considering the very young Indian team, their performance in England, and the fact that they were playing away against the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris under the stand-in captain Virat Kohli.

India’s innings got off to a much slower start than Australia’s and Shikhar Dhawan fell early chopping one onto his stumps. Cheteshwar Pujara steadied the innings scoring 73, he seemed much more comfortable here than in England. Murali Vijay fell on 53 to bring Virat Kohli out. On the first ball, Kohli was hit on the helmet from a bouncer by Johnson  and the entire Australian team which had a reputation for being aggressive and intimidating rushed to his side. It seemed that Australia had changed.

Kohli, like Pujara, appeared much more comfortable here than in England, he went on to score an incredible century. With contributions from Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma, India ended on what was a respectable total of 444. Except for Kohli, four of India’s top batsmen appeared to settle into the innings with three scoring half centuries and yet they all got out without converting their figures into big scores.

Australia still had a 73 run lead and built up their lead on day four to 363 runs with David Warner scoring another century in the test. This was the second time Warner scored two centuries in one test this year. Only five other batsmen had ever achieved this. Tensions rose during his innings as Warner was given out to a ball and then recalled after it was deemed a no ball. Warner taunted Varun Aaron as he came back having been given a send off by the bowler and captain. Dhawan also got involved and cricket appeared to be recovering to its fiercely passionate self once again.

Day 5. Target for Australia: 10 wickets. Target for India: 364 runs.

The target for India would have been a draw had it been an older team or a different captain. In fact a draw would have been the target for most teams. Virat Kohli however, had his sights set on the win. At no point did India look like they would attempt to bat through the day to draw the game.

Dhawan and Pujara fell early, the pitch was a truly intimidating day five pitch and no team would have liked to be chasing a 300+ total on it.

Kohli came onto the pitch to join Vijay and the game changed. The first debut captain to score two centuries in an test. He appeared to be floating above the ground, he did not put a foot wrong. On a pitch that would have had any batsman second guessing himself, Kohli had reached his zone. Vijay was at one end playing on the day five pitch and scored an admirable 99 whilst Kohli was playing as though it was day 1 again and India were batting first.

Another twist in the match occurred again just as India were cruising as Vijay fell to Nathan Lyon. Rahane and Sharma couldn’t hold on either as Lyon bested them with his sharp turn and bounce. On 141, Kohli appeared to momentarily come out of his trance as he mishit one straight to Mitchell Marsh. Possibly the most gut wrenching moment for Kohli who had brought India within 60 runs of what could have been one of the most incredible wins ever.

The final three wickets fell quickly and Australia had won the first test by 48 runs with Nathan Lyon taking a seven of the wickets in the fourth innings.

The match was truly competitive game that brought in every aspect of the sport. Through its aggressiveness, passion and record breaking cricket it was the perfect way to get the cricketing world spinning again.

A literal one-man show… Rohit Sharma beats Sri Lanka by 13 runs.

15 Saturday Nov 2014

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Rohit Sharma smashed through two incredible records yesterday. He scored a record-breaking 264 runs in the fourth ODI against Sri Lanka (45 more than the previous record holder Virender Sehwag) and became the first cricketer to score two double centuries in ODIs.

It was an incredible day for India but more specifically, for Rohit Sharma. India had already won the series against Sri Lanka with two games to play and so decided to give all their players a chance. Sharma who was coming back from Injury had only played in the warm-up game but had scored 142 and was looking as great as ever. Sharma along with Robin Uthappa, Stuart Binny and Karn Sharma all played to allow some of the other players to rest and recover, including the in form Shikhar Dhawan who had scored a fantastic 283 runs in his three innings.

India won the toss and elected to bat first, Sharma looked uncomfortable to begin with, he only scored 11 runs of the first 40 with Ajinkya Rahane in full flow hitting boundaries every over. Sharma faced a maiden over from Angelo Matthews, was dropped by Thisara Perera (the most costly drop in ODI cricket) on four runs, and scored his 50 at less than a run a ball.

However from then on, it was as though he was a new man, there was no stopping him. He didn’t give the Sri Lankans another chance until he went past 200, his second, third and fourth 50 came from 28, 25 and 26 balls respectively and his final 50 came off just a mere 15. Sharma hit 33 fours (another record) in his innings, he placed the ball so beautifully that the Sri Lankan fielders didn’t have a chance. Sharma played 39 dot balls to reach his first 50 but only 19 in the rest of his entire innings. There was little to say about the other batsmen when one man amasses a score that is higher than the average ODI innings these past 10 years. However, Virat Kohli was run out again just as he was when Sharma scored his first double century against Australia. (Are we going to start hoping Kohli gets run out more often when he’s batting with Sharma?)

Sri Lanka’s batsmen faced an incredible total of 404. Their bowlers had given them very little chance of winning the game and bar the wonderful efforts of Mahela Jayawardena and the admirable grit of Angelo Matthews, their batting was in no shape to be chasing such a total. Sri Lanka fell 153 runs short of India’s total, 13 runs short of Rohit Sharma’s total.

#Rohit200

India take full advantage of unprepared Sri Lanka

07 Friday Nov 2014

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India were clear favourites when the impromptu ODI series against Sri Lanka was announced after West Indies left India early. Sri Lanka’s last international game was against Pakistan in August and they were given no time to prepare for the series. In the lead up, both Angelo Matthews and Kumar Sangakkara were clear about their distaste for the spontaneous series and lack of practice. They, alongside the new head coach tried to dial down the importance of the tour but the margins by which India have won the first few games could have an effect on the Sri Lankans in the lead-up to the World Cup.

Even though Sri Lanka were missing both Lasith Malinga and Rangana Herath, the warm-up game against India A was expected to be a little more competitive than it turned out to be. Neither of India’s openers played including the in-form Ajinkya Rahane and both Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli did not play. This would have been the perfect chance for Sri Lanka to get a feel for the Indians and build up some confidence before facing a team that had just beaten England and West Indies.

The Indian batsmen pummeled the Sri Lankan bowlers with the first wicket falling for 96 and the second falling for a colossal 310. Rohit Sharma scored 142, Manish Pandey scored an unbeaten 135 and along with the help of Unmukt Chand who scored a half century, India posted 382. The batsmen appeared unfazed by the SL bowlers and both Sharma and Pandey made their case for being included in the 2015 WC XI.

Apart from Upul Tharanga who scored 76, none of the other Sri Lankan batsmen made a significant contribution to their total. Considering their lack of practice, they did very well to reach 294, a score that would more often than not result in a win during a chase but their bowling left them too huge a target and so Matthews’ men fell short by 88 runs.

The first ODI was going to be even more of a task for the SL bowlers with Rahane on form and Virat Kohli coming off a century against West Indies. India’s openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rahane both scored centuries and put on an incredible opening stand of 231 runs. This was the second highest Indian opening partnership against Sri Lanka and third overall. Their innings was incredible but could have been stopped early in it’s tracks. Kumar Sangakkara dropped two regulation catches off the openers before they had reached half centuries. The poor performance by such a high achieving man showed the true rustiness of the Sri Lankan team.

Virat Kohli was appointed captain for the series and made a great call in putting Suresh Raina in at no.3 to keep the momentum of the game going after Dhawan fell for 113. Raina went on to score 52 and India ended on another mammoth total of 363.

Sri Lanka’s batting appeared even worse during this game, only Mahela Jayawardene looked in touch playing some great shots. Ishant Sharma picked up four wickets for 34 runs, his best ODI figures to date and Sri Lanka were bowled out for 194. The Indians were missing Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and so would have been very happy with the performance from the pace bowlers.

The second ODI appeared to be dragging the series down the same road that six out of the seven previous head-to-head ODI series’ between the two have gone. Only once have Sri Lanka drawn an ODI series against India in the past 10 years and never have they won one.

The ODI began badly for the visitors as wickets fell frequently until a great fourth-wicket partnership between Angelo Matthews and Kumar Sangakkara helped them get back on track. No one else in the team made a significant contribution to the total but Sri Lanka were still able to muster a decent total of 274. However it appeared nothing could stop the hosts, if it wasn’t Rahane scoring the century it was someone else. Ambati Rayudu appeared to want in on the action as he scored an unbeaten maiden century. He, with the help of Dhawan and Kohli helped India ease to their second win of the series so far.

I hope the series improves over the next few games and that Sri Lanka are better prepared for the World Cup. It would be phenomenal to watch another India v. Sri Lanka final after the results of the 2011 ODI and 2014 T20 World Cup.

I feel I must mention Pakistan and their incredible dominance over Australia in the two tests after having lost all three ODIs. Not just by small margins either, a first test win of 221 runs followed by an even more comprehensive 356 run win. An in form Pakistan and India will mean an incredibly exciting group stage match in Adelaide in Feb 2015. One which I eagerly await!