A happening time for sports
Cricket They say Cricket anishchittaon ka khel hai(Cricket is a game of uncertainity). It proved itself correct when the on-field drama got dragged off-field after Sydney test. The umpires were asked to leave the series in between and different umpires were called for rest of the series. Steve Bucknor described it as an unfortunate event and was disappointed for being sent back for just making 2 errors when there were 11 appeals. (Mind you, he gave 12 wrong decisions in the Sydney test – all against Indians). Umpires consult Ricky Ponting for giving a decision. Third Umpire gives wrong decision(obviously in favour of Australia)- The batsman(Andrew Symonds) is clearly out of crease and the third umpire presses Green Button. Then India surprised the Aussies on their favourite ground, Adellaide with an impressive win. India announced its cricket team for upcoming triangular series, with Australia and Sri Lanka, with no Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in the side. BCCI said the captain was given the team he wanted. Mahendra Singh Dhoni cites fielding to be the reason for dropping out Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid! (I never knew Rahul Dravid was a poor fielder). I am not particularly a fan of Saurav Ganguly but when he plays well, you cant help but appreciate him and I can claim without a hesitancy that Saurav has performed reasonably well since he made his comeback. He has proved himself time to time and showing him the way out when he is gaining back his form doesn’t make any sense to me. Similarly for Rahul Dravid. He gave up captaincy even though he was doing pretty good, then he lost his form completely. The player who is synonymous for wall was finding it difficult even to keep his wicket. You drop him at that point of time, it looks fair but just when the person gets back his form, you ask him to leave- doesn’t make sense at all. Sreesanth makes a comeback. Before leaving for the tour makes a media statement, “Aussies should be worried I am coming”, I remember last time Zaheer Khan did similar thing in World Cup (before final) and had to pay a heavy price as it took him about a year to gain back his form and place in the team. Kumble again proving his utility with bat as well by scoring 87 in the first innings of 4th test match against Australia. Sachin gets another century in the series and reaching 150+ this time. Tennis Australian Open Mens Semifinal 1: Tsongo surprised everyone by defeating World number 2 Rafael Nadal in straight sets. Tsongo is just 22 years old and in playing his first grand slam tournament. But Djokovik had bigger surprises in mind.. He thrashed world number 1 “Roger Federer” in straight sets!! Something I don’t recall for happening in near past. Lets see what happens in Womens final, which is scheduled to start in a few hours, while the mens final promises some high quality Tennis and huge excitementson Sunday. Add to that, IIM-C team is going to XLRI next week for sports meet. So overall, a happening period for sports this is.
New Rules of Cricket
After watching the second Test Match in Sydney, some rules have to be incorporated by ICC to give the other teams a perfect clarification. Anyways a New Year should have its new set of official rules.
If you might not have realised till now, the match was the first Test Match been played this year(2008).
1). Ricky Ponting:
THE TRULY GENUINE CRICKETER OF THE CRICKET ERA AND WHOSE INTEGRITY SHOULD NOT BE DOUBTED
should be considered as the FOURTH UMPIRE. As per the new rules, FOURTH UMPIRE decision is final and will over ride any decisions taken by any other umpires. ON-FIELD umpires can seek the assistance of RICKY PONTING even if he is not on the field. This rule is to be made, so that every team should understand the importance of the FOURTH UMPIRE.
2). While AUSTRALIAN TEAM is bowling, If the ball flies anywhere close to the AUSTRALIAN FIELDER(WITHIN 5 metre distance), the batsman is to be considered OUT irrelevant of whether the catch was taken cleanly or grassed. Any decision for further clarification should be seeked from the FOURTH UMPIRE. This is made to ensure that the cricket is played with SPORTIVE SPIRIT by all the teams.
3). While BATTING, AUSTRALIAN players will wait for the ON-FIELD UMPIRE decisions only (even if the catch goes to the FIFTH SLIP as the ball might not have touched the bat). Each AUSTRALIAN batsman has to be out FOUR TIMES (minimum) before he can return to the pavilion. In case of THE CRICKETER WITH INTEGRITY, this can be higher.
4). UMPIRES should consider a huge bonus if an AUSTRALIAN player scores a century. Any wrong decisions can be ignored as they will be paid huge bonus and will receive the backing of the AUSTRALIAN team and board.
5). All AUSTRALIAN players are eligible to keep commenting about all players on the field and the OPPONENT TEAM should never comment as they will be spoiling the spirit of the AUSTRALIAN team. Any comments made in any other language are to be considered as RACIALISM only.
6). MATCH REFREE decisions will be taken purely on the AUSTRALIAN TEAM advices only. Player views from the other teams decisions will not be considered for hearing. MATCH REFREES are to be given huge bonus if this rule is implemented.
7) . NO VISITING TEAM should plan to win in AUSTRALIA. This is to ensure that the sportive spirit of CRICKET is maintained.
8). THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE:
If any bowler gets RICKY PONTING – “THE UNDISPUTED CRICKETER WITH INTEGTIRY IN THE GAME OF CRICKET” – more than twice in a series, he will be banned for the REST OF THE SERIES. This is to ensure that the best batsman/Captain will be played to break records and create history in the game of CRICKET.
These rules will clarify better to the all teams VISITING AUSTRALIA.
We call him Third Umpire!
Now this is something that never happened before and I think would not be repeated again atleast in this decade or may be century [:P]
Watch and tell if he is out or not-out.
And we won!!
There could not have been a better end to it.
India’s first match with Scotland is washed out and India plays Pakistan in league match in a battle to survive. India Survives after the bowl out.
Next India meets New Zealand and not to surprise of many, India lost to NZ.
India meets England, again a battle of survival. India persists.
Still struggling to survive, India meets hosts South Africa. Brings out a surprise for all sending Proteans packing bags.
India meets its second order arch-rivals, Australia in Semifinals. People doubtful over India’s chances but as it has been a tradition, players come up with exceptional performance to see India through to Finals.
So India to meet its first order arch-rival Pakistan in finals!!
On the other hand..
Pakistan stumbled against minnow Scotland but eventually got past them.
Meeting India next where they could bring match to competitive situation after having lost almost all the extablished batsmen but could not score the last run in 4 deliveries.and eventually lost to India in Bowlout.
This probably provoked Pakis and they scored impressive wins over likes of Sri Lanka and Australia.
Bangladesh could not stand the Paki passion and New Zealand also had to go back packing their bags in Semifinals.
And now they meet India again!!
Impressive performance by both the teams, especially after dismal show at ODI Cricket WC in WI. (Note that both the teams were ousted in the Group stages itself, where India had to pay price of losing to Bangladesh while Pakistan and Coach Woolmer had to pay heavily for losing to Scotland)
Final match, obviously, had to be exciting/nail biting/thrilling/…. (non-ending list of adjectives) and it was like that.
The closing moments of match say it aloud:
Pakistan needs 13 runs from 6 balls.
India needs 1 wicket or restrict Pak to at max 11 runs in 6 balls.
Masbiah Ul Haq-most successful Pakistani batsman in series on strike
Mohd. Asif on non-strikers end. A single would mean that he comes on strike.
India has already used up all the senior bowlers till now.
Dhoni has 2 options: Harbhajan Singh and Joginder Sharma.
Spinner in last over against a settled batsman could be a risky business so Dhoni calls Jogi.
Jogi gets the ball. One of the most unexperienced bowler in the team gets to bowl the last over!!
First ball: Huge Wide. 12 off 6 required.
Dhoni goes and talks to the bowler.
19.1 Masbiah misses it completely. 12 off 5.
19.2 Jogi tries to hit the deck hard but wasted. A mistimed shot goes over the fence for max. 6 off 4.
Pakistan celebrated. Similar to what they did during first league match against India.
Jogi feels the pressure.
19.4 Jogi bowls a normal ball. Masbiah is desparately looking for boundary as he does not want to expose Asif at this time. He moves across towards Off and collects the ball from outside off stump to play it around Leg Gully area. He mistimes. Sreesanth is standing there and it is a CATCH!! Masbiah walks back and India has won the first World Twenty20 championship!!
After 1983, India again gets to be called World Champions!!
India faces Australia after a long time..
The Second Semifinal of International Twenty20 World Cup, India v/s Australia, has all the ingredients to be an exciting match. India has put up an interesting show at World Cup so far. The team that arrived as underdogs has now become one of the favourites, and the fact that they sent one of the favourites in the tournament back packing their bags. On the other hand, the world champions started on a lower note losing to minnows but came back strongly to reach the Semis.
Importantly, it must be noted that India would be facing Australia after a long period of around 11 months (328 days). (FYI: Last time the two teams played was on 29 October 2006 when Australia chased a target of 250 with 26 balls remaining and 6 wickets in hand at Mohali.) Also, it has been observed that in each match they play against each other, one of the two teams substantially outperform their normal performances whether it be India stopping successful wins record of Australia or Australia thrashed India in the ODI World Cup 2003 finals.
Lets see what is in store for today!!
And they say Cricket is dead!!
After a dismal show at WC, people said the cricket fever in India has died down. Various agencies etc. confirmed the same with their reports on advertisements during matches and disappearing Indian Cricketers from the advertisements. They accused coach Greg Chappell. They accused Rahul Dravid. They accused Sachin Tendulkar. They accused Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and who not.
And now, the same people seem to be worshipping these players again!!
India and Records!! Ain’t it synonymous??
Did you know:
India holds the record of having maximum number of records in Cricket!!
With legendary players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Saurav Ganguly … belonging to India, it is no surprise that India holds maximum number of records in International Cricket. In fact, Sachin Tendulkar has always been envied of holding so many records in the International Cricket. Asking someone Maximum number of runs in any form of International Cricket(excluding Twenty20 coz he opted out of the format) is a no-brainer. Even players like Ajit Agarkar who find it difficult to get a permanent berth in the Indian Cricket Team have had taste of International Records. For those who are unaware, he holds the record for fastest 50 wickets in ODI.
And now today, Yuvraj Singh managed to raise the count further by two. He scored 50 off just 12 balls and hit six 6s in an over. In his innings of 58 runs, he faced just 16 deliveries of which 10(3×4,7×6) went out of the boundary(even out of the ground for that matter), which included six consecutive sixes of Broad’s 4th over(19th over if Indian innings). With this he not only surpassed Mascranahes’s record of 5 consecutive sixes, he has also equalled the record of 6 sixes in an over in any form of International Cricket, with Herschelle Gibbs.
Watch the exciting over yourself..
India Pakistan Twenty20 match
Needless to say the level of excitements when there is an India-Pakistan Cricket match. Although people compare it with Aus-Eng rivalry but I believe that doesnt stand anywhere closer.
Both the teams put in their best to win the match and actually they put in significantly more than that. It doesnt matter much if India loses in a final, what matters more is winning over Pakistan. Same holds true for Pakistan as well.
India Pakistan Twenty20 World Cup League match of Group D was no different. India, after a poor start(losing quick wickets in initial overs to Mohd. Asif), came back strongly to score a competitive score of 141/9 in the 20 overs. The score, if not a very high score was comfortably a competitve score, given the humid climate but obviously Pakistan was not to give up easily. Despite of losing some quick wickets and an ever rising Required Run Rate, Pakistan maintained a decent chance of winning till around 17th over of the innings. When it looked like that Pakistan has almost lost the match(after their last recognised batsmen, Shahid Afridi, got out), one of the least known names in the International cricket, Masbeih Ul Haq, came to their rescue. He made Pakistan reach a situation where they needed just 11 of the last over.
Having already hit about 30 in 8 odd balls, this looked like an easy target.
The last over:
The second ball of the over goes for a 4. 7 required in 4
19.3 2Runs
19.4 It goes for a 4 and the scores are level. Just 1 run required of 2 balls.
19.5 Sreesanth bowls a bouncer. Masbiah is unable to connect. Dhoni collects the ball and charges to the batsman.
Last Ball: 1 run required. MS Dhoni brings fielders inside the circle. S. Sreesanth hits a bouncing delivery. The batsman mistimes it and the ball goes to the fielder at Point. Batsmen run. Fielder is alert. He fields it quickly and Sreesanth is ready at the Bowlers end for a throw. Fielder throws it towards the bowlers end and the batsman is found short of his crease. It is a TIE!!
Second time in the history of Twenty20 Internationals and obviously first time in Twenty20 World Cup. For the sake of ignorant ones, a Twenty20 tie match is decided by Bowl-out, in which 5 nominated bowlers from each team are asked to bowl and hit the stumps. The team that hits more number of times wins.
So, The match moves on to a Bowl Out now and guess what, MS Dhoni has surprise for most of the people. Unlike Pakistan, which nominates its 5 main strike bowlers, India decided to chose Sehwag and Uthappa over Ajit Agarkar(the most experienced bowler in Indian team) and RP Singh(strike bowler, known for his line and length). And in fact, nomination of Uthappa came as a big surprise since people have not seen him bowl anytime and nomination of Sehwag was a surprise since he did not have a chance to bowl in the match.
Anyways,
Pakistan won the Bowl-out toss and asks India to bowl first.
Sehwag takes on the first ball. He is smiling. He looks casual as always. When audience is tense with Indian chance to stay in the tournament totally dependent on the bowl out and the bowl out being largely dependent on Sehwag. He bowls a straight slow ball and it hits the stupmps. India scores.
Pakistan tossed the ball towards _____, he came he bowls and he misses by a huge margin. India 1-0.
Harbhajan Singh is the next man..will he or wont he?..And he hits!! India 2.
Umar Gul takes up the ball for Pakistan. He comes with a realtively smaller run up and bowls an almost wide ball!! Surprise all around!! Anyways India is up 2-0.
Pakistanis are tense now..One could notice the pressure Asif was facing.
Without anybody realising that it is India’s turn to bowl 3rd time, Robin Uthappa comes and hits the stumps..India gets a huge lead of 3 to 0.
Pakistan needs to hit this time for sure to possibly take it to a draw in bowl-out and Shahid Afridi is the next man!!
And he misses!! INDIA WON THE MATCH
What a match it turned out to be!! Excitements all around.
Watch the videos for the Last over and the Bowl-out.
Last Over
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebt6PRiz49g">
Bowl Out
~Direct feed from Abhi’s world.
~~For more interesting posts, visit http://abhitaneja.blogspot.com
Thank you
What a Catch!!!
Simply Incredible…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuojh_R0Rhw">
Reminds me of the SRK, Naseeruddin starrer “Chamatkar”
~Direct feed from Abhi’s world.
~~For more interesting posts, visit http://abhitaneja.blogspot.com
Thank you
![UT 3, 4 & The Milky Way [video]](http://static.flickr.com/2633/4135738280_d16c9dd389_t.jpg "UT 3, 4 & The Milky Way [video]")
