INDIA THRASH AUSTRALIA

Well, apparently not thrash ,but certainly won comfortably so i would keep that way,sounds good 😛 . Nowadays ,it gives me more pleasure when we win against Australia than against Pakistan so there are no words to describe my state of elation 🙂 .India finally won a match in MCG,  after some 20 years or so.

It was a match where India seemed to dominate almost every department of the game right from the very first ball.Starting with the bowling department ,well ,it isn’t easy to bowl against the mighty world champions with an inexperienced attack like the indians have.But dhoni managed quite well and the bowlers responded well too.Ishant sharma ,probably my age guy ,bowled exceptionally well with new ball. Hayden has been a real pain in the butt for the Indians ever since he started playing international cricket, taking his wicket was very crucial and thanks to MR .Rudi kurtzen ,yet again ,a false judgement leads to gilly’s wicket. Well, Ishant sharma is having a real happy time bowling to ponting ,every time ponting faces him he seem to get out exactly the same way he got during the Sydney test.He probably is the find of the season with his height and proper length he has the ability to control the ball.hopefully he wont fade away as the likes of balaji and nehra. Sreesanth had his luck today . He has the natural wicket taking ability apart from all the drama he creates on the pitch with his dance and stuff,but generally he proves out to be a expensive bowler ,today he seemed to be different there wasn’t that unwanted aggression ,he kept his balls in the limits which worked well for india. Pathan and harbhajan bowled well too maintaining the pressure on the Australian batsmen. India did very well to restrict them to 159 .

Coming to india’s batting ,Australians for the first time looked defensive after a long long time ,they generally prefer 3 slips with players at catching position no matter how low the target is but this time it was different .They had only 2 slips at first, which reduced to 1 after some time leading to some drop chances at slip .Indians attacked from the very first ball .Wow , wasn’t sachin at his best . Three fours of the bret lee ‘s same over showed his class ,charisma and style .I heard harsha bhogle exaggerating that he would probably not forget the shot till he is alive 😛 but worth exaggerating 🙂 isn’t it ??? . The mystery behind irfan pathan’s arrival at the crease after sehwag is still unknown but whatever dhoni had in his mind ,irfan’s presence in the crease did exasperate the Australian .Who would like to bowl to a bowler while defending a small total with a big batting line up waiting behind 😀 .???

AT the end too dhoni and rohit sharmaplayed quite sensible stealing quick single near the pitch which annoyed the Australians greatly 🙂 . On the whole indians won the match comfortably and now we are ahead of the Australians in the points table 😛 . Slowly but steadily the tag “invincible australians ” is fading away .

Next match is with sri lanka and i am confident our team would do well to win that too.

PERTH TEST WIN – SERIES VERY MUCH ALIVE !!!

I have been following cricket from the time i could remember things and i guess todays win has been one of the best inidan victories i have witnessed till date .The victory cound’t have possibly come at a better place and time .Defeating Australia at perth (considered to be the fastest pitch in the world) after going down 2-0 and more importatnly after the sydney test fiasco ,is special for the team and possibly to each and every indian here in india.We,cricket fans ,have a,lways critisized the team if it performs badly .But After sydney test loss , the support indian team got worldwide was overwhelming  and the team has reciprocated really well by winning this perth test.
Indians have stopped aussies from acheving that elusive record of 17 consecutive wins yet again .I am so happy 😀 , yes i envy sometimes the way australians play ,but i guess everything is fair in love and war,and cricket for me is both , love for country and war against the australia  😛  .
This test has showed a lot of positve aspects as far as the team INDIA is concerned .Bowling department being one of most important one.Bowling out australia two times in its home ground with an inexperienced attack is really appreciable.I think ishant sharma bowled  extremely well. Pathan is back to his original form Hecan be a lethal bowler once he starts swinging and RP singh has delevered everytimne he has played a match.BAtting wise ,i have always felt india has the strongest batting line-up in the world .Partenership between Dravid and sachin proved to be a costly one for the ausralians .Lakshman has been a thorn in the flesh of aussies ever since he has started playing international cricket .It was the same lakshman who came in the way of 17 consecutive wins last time in 2001 through his blistering 281.Irfan pathan is the all rounder india has been looking for the last one decade or so.
Australian batting really looks feeble without hayden .Hayden factor could be one of the reasons of the low first innings total.He has been a real pain in the butt for the indian bowlers 😛 .Other than that i dont see any thing wrong in australian side .It still looks the same champion side .
Though ,India are still down by 2-1 the series still look evenly poised ,lets accept the fact that the other two games too were fought closely,unfortunately india had their share of bad luck in sydney test otherwise the game could have headed any way . Indians have psyological advantage going into the next game as the confidence is high and the team is playing as a unit and now that australians have lost one game they would definately feel a bit apprehensive as they are no longer invincible 😀 .Good for the game of cricket .

STEVE Bucknor REMOVED FROM THE PERTH TEST!!!!

Ah!! now the indian team can sleep.AUSTRALIA is WEAK NOW. ARE THEY ???

INDIA vs AUSTRALIA Series – AUSTRALIA WINS the FIRST TEST

Australia proved again why it is the best team in the world, by winning the first test comprehensively by a whopping 337 runs against india. Just a week ago  i wrote   post on this series .Check this out .And now its clear that i was hoping against the hope

I am shocked .yes , i am.Not because india lost it but because it showed no signs of a fight. Losing in the fourth day that too by margin of 337 runs is not something that was expected after a good show by the bowlers on the first day.

Well, i am not in a position to  write much about this test match as i was not able to follow the match.Chennaites require set top box for viewing the match and i hate chennai for this particular reason 😡 .

Match Result: Australia beat India by 337 runs
Man of the match: Matthew Hayden
Series Status: Australia lead the series 1-0

 Australia 343 – all out & 351 – 7 decl, India 196 – all out & 161 – all out

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INDIA vs AUSTRALIA 2007-08 series

Vs

I have been quite anxious to blog something on Cricket for sometime now as i dint post anything after the 20-20 cup final . I guess, this is the best time to do it with the much awaited series against australia ready to kick off . Well , for years India-Pakistan series has been the favorite for any indian cricket lover but time has changed , Cricket Fans like me are no more eager to see inida Pakistan matches as before . The reason is simple , we have been witnessing the confrontation with the rivals far too frequently . The passion which used to be there was missing in the last series against pakistan.The whole series looked sullen and one sided .What the Heck ????, i guess i am deviating away from the actual topic which i want to discuss 😛 .So i was telling that India – Australia games have become much more important for indian fans as we , indians beleive that we are the only team that has the caliber to beat australia and there’s nothing wrong in it .The excitement and the pressure against the aussies has now surpassed the mark that used to be against Pakistan .This was well Visible when australians toured India earlier this year.Each game was heated up and It was really nice to see guys like sreesanth daring the aussie players 😛 .Though india had lost the series there was a stiff competition .

Ever since india won the adelaide test match and tied the seires during the last tour , india has been its toughest competitor .We have given them some hard time to keep up its reputation and they know it .Hopefully , India would be able to give australians run for their money again 😛 . yeah,u heard me ,right!! The word “hopefully” is very much intentional as the inidan team is known for turning things upside down every now and then. After all Enigma is synonymous with INDIAN cricket. Who expected india to reach 2002 world cup finals after the terrible performance with australia in its first match??? Who expected india to Tie the series with australia last time it toured ??? Who expected the embarrassing world cup debacle after losing to minnows like bangladesh earlier this year ??? AND Who expected us to win the 20 -20 world cup ?? 😛 . Now if you consider the present form of indian team i would expect them to atleast draw the test series but who knows :P?? Anyway ,i like to be optimistic and lets hope for the best.

Indian Squad

Anil Kumble (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pankaj Singh, Dinesh Karthik

The squad according to me looks pretty much balanced .Opening looks solid with jaffer in tremendous form and i dont know whether dravid will open with him or not , if he opens then i guess the opening stand can be really good .Middle order is as lethel as it can be .Saurav (in great touch), tendulkar (whose commitment can never be doubted) ,Lakshman (a real pain in the asses of aussies) and Dhoni (with his unusual and aggressive style of play ) make the middle order one the best in the world . And of course yuvraj has the ability to replace anyone of them in case of any unavoidable circumstanses. The search for a natural all rounder has been a real difficulty for the selectors. This never pursuit ended after the introduction of irfan pathan and now after having even a century under his kitty he can really claim as one. Dinesh karthik could be useful in tracks and conditions that australia have but i hardly see any chances for him unless there’s an injury. I though ajit agarkar could have been selected in place for ishan sharma. Ajit could swing the bowl well which is the only hope against the mighty australian line up .But selectors may have some other things in mind.So overall the team looks quite good and had looked never better for taking on the champions of the game.

Australian Squad for the first test

Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Mike Hussey, Phil Jaques, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait.

Well, i cant say much about the australian team .Their performance speaks much about them. I have always wondered how every newcomer that australia brings becomes a hero for them take the example of Hussey ,Micheal clarke ,and ow recently struat clarke .everyone plays the part in their team.Frankly speaking i dont think the Australian side is that much powerfull ,its just their commitment and confidence that makes them the world champions 🙂 .

Plus Points for INDIA

• All the main players are in good knick
• Phsycological advantage after winning against pakistan
• DHONI And sehwag factor
• Players like mcgrath and warne are missing

Plus points for Australia

• Home advantage
• Ponting is in a splendid form
• Symonds and micheal clarke make the middle order almost invincible
• Good form as a whole

SCHEDULE FOR THE TEST SERIES

• Wed 26, Dec 2007 – Sun 30, Dec 2007 : First Test at Melbourne
• Wed 02, Jan 2008 – Sun 06, Jan 2008 : Second Test at Sydney
• Wed 16, Jan 2008 – Sun 20, Jan 2008 : Third Test at Perth
• Thu 24, Jan 2008 – Mon 28, Jan 2008 : Fourth Test at Adelaide Oval
• Fri 01, Feb 2008 : Twenty20 International at Melbourne

SCHEDULE FOR THE ODI TRI SERIES

• February 3, 2008 : India vs Australia at Brisbane
• February 5, 2008 : India vs Sri Lanka at Brisbane
• February 8, 2008 : Australia vs Sri Lanka at Sydney
• February 10, 2008 : India vs Australia at Melbourne
• February 12, 2008 : India vs Sri Lanka at Canberra
• February 15, 2008 : Australia vs Sri Lanka at Perth
• February 17, 2008 : India vs Australia at Adelaide
• February 19, 2008 : India vs Sri Lanka at Adelaide
• February 22, 2008 : Australia vs Sri Lanka at Melbourne
• February 24, 2008 : India vs Australia at Sydney
• February 26, 2008 : India vs Sri Lanka at Hobart
• February 29, 2008 : Australia vs Sri Lanka at Melbourne
• March 2, 2008 : 1st final at Sydney
• March 4, 2008 : 2nd final at Brisbane
• March 7, 2008 : 3rd final at Adelaide

I see an exciting and fascinating tour ahead.Lets hope for the best that India Wins 🙂 . Well ,if you have reached the ending then you deserve a heartly thanks for reading the full post 😀 .

UPDATED :

INDIA lose the first test 

Match Result: Australia beat India by 337 runs
Man of the match: Matthew Hayden
Series Status: Australia lead the series 1-0

 Australia 343 – all out & 351 – 7 decl, India 196 – all out & 161 – all out

View full scorecard