December 19, 2010 in Sports by Ramesh Chandan

Australia closer to square the Ashes series

The third day of the Perth Test went in the favour of the home team as after solid performance with bat on tough wicket, their bowler sent half of the visitor team’s men to pavilion. From here, Australia eyes a win in this test match and squares the series before Christmas.

The final session saw the ripping of England wickets which backed Michael Hussy’s 116.Last five minutes proved disastrous for England as Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris both struck to finish with two wickets apiece. By the end of day’s play England were lurching on 81 for 5.

Earlier in the day, another superb ton from Michael Hussey set the match up. As it is, he has given his team the chance of a very likely win to get back into this series. Along with Hussey, opener Shane Watson gave a well support with bat and scored 5 runs short from his century. They both shared 113 runs for the 4th wicket stand.

However, Australia lost its last five wickets for 38 runs.

Tremlett finished with 5 for 87 in his first test in three years after he replaced an injured Stuart Broad in the team.

Later in the day, the Aussie attack totally bullied England in that 27-over session, and none of those five dismissed batsman will be feeling too good about himself tonight.

Well, Australia can finally breathe easy as they are on the brink of an important win. England’s dream of winning the Ashes before Christmas in a long time may well remain just a distant dream!

Let’s see, how much resistance England lower order can provide to the charged Australian bowlers on day 4.

November 15, 2010 in Sports by R Biswas

India vs. New Zealand second Test match day 2 previews

The second Test match of the three match series played at Rajiv Gandhi International stadium, Hyderabad went in the favour of the home team as after reducing Kiwis to a total of 350 by claiming 6 early wickets today, the team outplayed visitors in batting too. By the end of the day’s play, India had posted a total of 178 runs for the loss of 2 wickets.

Although Virendra Sehwag fell four short of a century but ensured India a remarkable start to their first innings on day two. Sehwag was in flow until he faced difficulty with side screen and the next moment he became the victim of the flighted delivery of Vettori which cleaned up his stumps.

His opening partner, Gautam Gambhir, got considerable runs with his bat after a long period of time, followed him back to the pavilion in the very next over. It was Southee who got him caught behind and brought New Zealand back into the game.

The Indian openers were off to a good start as they added 160 runs for the 1st wicket partnership.

Earlier today, Kiwis resumed play from their last night score of 258 for 4. Except, Jesse Ryder none of the New Zealand player got good connection with ball and the wickets kept falling at regular interval. It was Zaheer Khan who brought two back to back wickets early today.

The off-spinner found his form with the ball after Zaheer picked two wickets in his opening spell to reduce the visitors to 341-9 at lunch. Harbhajan’s phirki helped India in getting rid of last three batsmen.

November 9, 2010 in Sports by Kumar

Australia ends the match losing streak in third ODI against Sri Lanka

Finally something happened in favour of the Australian team before the commencement of the ashes series against England as Australian pulled them out from the 7 consecutive defeats streak today on 7^th November. The host team thrashed Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the low scoring third ODI of the three match series.

Sri Lanka who had wrapped up their first ever series win in Australia against the world champion at SCG earlier in the week were thrashed by the hosts by 8 wickets with almost 30 overs intact.

It was definitely the day of Mc Kay who took his career best 5 wickets for 33 runs. He fired big names- Dilshan, Jayawardene and Sangakkara and was well supported from the other end by youngster Mitchell Starc who knocked over the heart of the big hitting middle order picking up an impressive figure of 4/27.

Earlier today, Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first but unfortunately they were immediately made to regret their decision as they were at one stage reduced to 14 for 3 in just 5^th over. None of the batsman could play the role of saviour and Sri Lanka squeezed their way to 115 as Starc wrapped the inning of visitors.

Replying to the low target set by Lankan team, Australia were off to a good start as they raced to 35 runs in just five overs. Despite of losing Watson early, Australia never looked back and Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin brought their team closer to victory. Further Michael Clarke together with Hussey ensured victory for the team without any further hiccups.

November 4, 2010 in Sports by R Biswas

Ind vs Nz: India vs New Zealand live score online

The live score updates for Ind vs Nz match is being provided by Cricinfo and Cricbuzz. In the Day 1 of the first test, India won the toss and selected to bat. Current score for India is 260/1 at the end of 65 overs. Run rate overall is 4.00 while the last 10 overs run rate is 5.00.

Live score updates can be checked from the link given here.

For live score updates on India vs New Zealand: Click Here

Live score is also available on Cricbuzz.

Batting in the field right now from India are Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag while bowlers are Kane Williamson and Hamish Bennett.

October 10, 2010 in Sports by AK Dubey

India vs Australia: Australia all out for 478, India recovers after early breaks

The second day of the Second Test played between India and England slightly edged in the favour of visitors as they were successful in setting a big total of 478 against the home team. India, though recovered, got early jolts as they lost two wickets in less than 40 runs.

By the end of day’s play, India had put on scoreboard 128 runs for the loss of two wickets with Sachin and Murali Vijay set on the pitch.

Well, if we see the match from neutral point of view then the match hangs up in balance as despite of early jolts India was eased to a considerable total by the end of the day.

Earlier, Indian openers Virendra Sehwag and Murali Vijay were off to a flying start as Sehwag following his natural style smashed four boundaries and a six in his total of 30 from 28 balls. He became the victim of Hilfenhaus when India had mere 37 runs on board. Adding to the misery of the Indian team, Rahul Dravid became the victim of Johnson who has got Dravid out continuously for six times consecutively.

However, Indian inning was steadied by sensible batting of M Vijay (42) and Sachin Tendulkar (44) who are unbeaten in the match.

Early in the day, Australian batsmen Marcus North hit a ton and helped Australia establish a solid total of 478.Tim Paine also played sensible inning who became the victim of Ojha on 59 runs.

Among the bowlers, Harbhajan claimed 4 wickets while Ojha got 3 in his kitty.

October 10, 2010 in Sports by R Biswas

CWG India: 2 more golds help India retain second spot

India created the difference of two golds from their closest contestant on the beginning 7th day of the Commonwealth Games day as the total gold count of the Indian contingent has increased to 26 in comparison to England’s 24.

The race between India and England for the second spot in the mega event has really become hot as it has become one of the greatest challenges for athletes of both the teams.

The first gold of the day was brought by Deepika Kumari who made a history by winning the gold medal against former Olympic medallist Williamson Alison Jane of England 6-0.

Immediately after the first success of Deepika in Women’s Recurve Individual event, next good news of the day came from the shooting venue where India won its 26th gold. It was Harpreet Singh who won the individual 25m centre fire pistol shooting event.

Other than gold, one bronze was also added to the kitty of Indian contingent when Dola Banerjee won the bronze after beating Malaysian Anbarasi Subramaniam 6-2 in the third place play-off.

Later in the day, India’s first and only World wrestling champion Sushil Kumar would commence his bid to add the Commonwealth Games gold to his impressive list of career titles while other competitors would also strive hard to lift the hosts back to the second position behind Australia.

England caught up late with India’s overall haul of 24 gold medals, but much superior silverware in their account helped them in standing one position below front runners Australia and one above the hosts on the sixth day of competitions.

October 8, 2010 in Sports by AK Dubey

New Zealand apologize for Sheila Dikshit slur

The racist remarks made by a New Zealand television host, Paul Henry, has made the New Zealand government apologize on his behalf as the Prime Minister of New Zealand on Friday said that the entire nation has been embarrassed by the racist remarks made by a television anchor.

John Key told to the reporters on Friday that what might have tried with the aim of bringing humour in the show ended up embarrassing New Zealand and further added that he was regretful for this disgraceful act.

Last Friday, in the Breakfast show TV host Paul Henry mocked the name of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and added “it’s so appropriate because she’s Indian”, prompting an official complaint from India over the “racist” and “unacceptable” comments.

However, the Prime Minister ruled out making personal apology to the Indian government saying that Wellington’s envoy in New Delhi had already apologized on his behalf after being summoned in the meeting called by India’s external minister S.M. Krishna.

Following this disgraceful incident, New Zealand High Commissioner Rupert Holborrow in his apology said that Henry’s comments were culturally insensitive, inappropriate and vulgar and it did not represent the view of the New Zealand government or its people.

He further said Henry’s remarks on a live breakfast show last Friday were a regrettable abuse of freedom of speech.

This is not the first time that the anchor Paul Henry made racial comments. Earlier he had come in the limelight because of racial slur against Indian-origin Governor-General of New Zealand Anand Satyanand for which he was already suspended.

The controversial host made an on-air apology shortly before his suspension was announced but invited further controversy by referring to himself as “half-gyppo”

October 6, 2010 in Sports by R Biswas

CWG medal tally: India consistent at #2 position in Day 3

Wednesday, the third day of the Commonwealth Games 2010 was productive too from Indian perspective as the Home side managed altogether 13 medals including 6 gold, 4 silver and three bronze. Indian athletes gave a big impetus to the coveted position in the commonwealth Games.

Dr. Karni Singh venue seems to be lucky spot for the Indian athletes as the home team grabbed six medals including three gold in shooting events which was held there while more success came from the weightlifting arena and wrestling mat, and thus ensuring second position to the host behind Australia.

Early in the morning, shooters began well and added three silver medals to the country’s account until Gagan Narang and Pistol experts Anisa Sayyed and Omkar Singh accounted for the gold medal.

However, 4 silver of the day came through the efforts of Olympic winner Abhinav Bindra, shooter Sornabat Rahi, trap shooters Ronjan Sondhi and Asher Noria and grappler Manoj Kumar.

Three bronze medals were added in the kitty of India by wrestlers Dharmendra Dalal and Sunil Kumar and para swimmer Prasanta Karmakar.

With such a energetic performance by the Indian athletes, total three-day medal tally of India has increased to 11-8-5 which placed them in the second position, next to Australia who have taken great lead which can be seen in figures 21-15-10.

England was third with 6-11-9 but would fancy their chances of increasing the figure with the athletics competition getting under way.

We hope that in the coming events too, India maintains the spirit and does not descalate in the medal tally ranking.

October 6, 2010 in Sports by R Biswas

ICC Awards 2010 and Rankings to be declared today

The much awaited ICC Awards 2010 and Rankings will be announced today in Bangalore. The Award Ceremony will be hosted in Grand Castle, Bengaluru. South Africa batsman AB de Villiers and his band is expected to entertain the function.

Nominations for the ICC Awards 2010 were already released. De Villiers himself has been nominated in two of the Awards categories.

We will update here with the list of winners of the ICC Awards 2010 as soon as it is available.

October 5, 2010 in Sports by R Biswas

CWG Medal Tally and Medal List – Oct 5, 2010

On the second day of the CWG Delhi, 2010, India has picked up to the second position in the Medal Tally. India has now won 5 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze Medals, totaling to 11 medals. India is now following Australia which is in the first position with 9 Gold, 10 Silver and 5 Bronze medals. Below is the medal tally on the Day 2 of the Commonwealth Games (October 5, 2010).

CWG Medal Tally and Medal List:

Yesterday, India was in the 5th position with just one silver and one bronze medals and today, it has climbed up to the second position with some incredible wins.

More updates on the CWG Medal Tally and Medal List coming soon.

October 5, 2010 in Sports by R Biswas

LG ICC Awards 2010 Short-list of nominees

As Bangalore prepares to host the grand event, here is the LG ICC Awards 2010 Short-list of nominees (in alphabetical order).

Individual Awards

Cricketer of the Year

• Hashim Amla (SA)
• Virender Sehwag (Ind)
• Graeme Swann (Eng)
• Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

Women’s Cricketer of the Year

• Katherine Brunt (Eng)
• Shelley Nitschke (Aus)
• Ellyse Perry (Aus)
• Stafanie Taylor (WI)

Test Player of the Year

• Hashim Amla (SA)
• Virender Sehwag (Ind)
• Dale Steyn (SA)
• Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

ODI Player of the Year

• Ryan Harris (Aus)
• Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)
• AB de Villiers (SA)
• Shane Watson (Aus)

Emerging Player

• Umar Akmal (Pak)
• Steven Finn (Eng)
• Angelo Mathews (SL)
• Tim Paine (Aus)

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year

• Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned)
• Trent Johnson (Ire)
• Kevin O’Brien (Ire)
• Mohammed Shahzad (Afg)

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year

• Michael Hussey (Aus) for his 60 not out in 24 balls against Pakistan in the semi-final of the ICC World Twenty20 2010 in St Lucia on 14 May
• Mahela Jayawardena (SL) for his 100 in 64 balls against Zimbabwe in Guyana on 3 May and his 98 not out in 56 balls against West Indies in Bridgetown on 7 May 2010 both during the ICC World Twenty20 2010
• Ryan McLaren (SA) for taking 5-19 against the West Indies on 19 May in Antigua
• Brendon McCullum (NZ) for his striking of 116 not out in 56 balls against Australia in Christchurch, New Zealand on 28 February

Umpire of the Year

• Aleem Dar
• Steve Davis
• Tony Hill
• Simon Taufel

LG People’s Choice Award

• Michael Hussey (Aus)
• Mahela Jayawardena (SL)
• Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)
• Andrew Strauss (Eng)
• AB de Villiers (SA)

Spirit of Cricket

• India
• New Zealand
• Sri Lanka
• Zimbabwe

October 5, 2010 in Sports by R Biswas

CWG India Medal List: Indian shooters bag two golds

It seems that the day is brilliant for India in the Games field as after Abhinav Bindra and Gagan’s Gold winning performance in the men’s 10m air rifle pair’s event, Anisa Syed and Rahi Sarnobat won second gold medal for India in 25m standard pistol pairs event at the 19th commonwealth Games on Tuesday.

Earlier, Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang set a Commonwealth record in the 10m air rifle event by scoring 1193 points. They fired in unison and broke their own record which they had set four years ago in Melbourne in which they had scored 1189 points.

The second position was secured by England’s James Huckle and Kenny Parr with 1174 points while the Bangladesh’s Abdullah Hel Baki and Md. Asif Hussain Khan with 1173 points were conceded the bronze medal. These contenders were far away from the points managed by the Indian players.

Gagan in his six shots managed 598 points in a spectacular sequence of 99,100,100,99,100,100 while Beijing Olympic Gold medallist , Bindra’s sequence read 100,98,99,100,99,99 for a total of 595 points in the first shooting event of the Games.

National Coach of the Indian shooting team, Sunny Thomas, expressed his happiness over the twin success of the shooting team and is looking forward to break the previous best of the Indian shooters in this mega event.

However, he called the other coming events difficult and wanted his shooters to be more focussed and maintain the gained momentum.

In another event, Sanjay Kumar entered into the final of Greco-Roman 74kg style of wrestling and Anil Kumar qualified for the finals of the Greco-Roman 96kg style of wrestling.

October 4, 2010 in Sports by AK Dubey

Ishant strikes to bring Australia on back foot

The first session of the fourth day of the Mohali Test was dedicated to the bowling of Ishant Sharma who struck thrice and brought Australia at the back foot after a sensible start given by them. Mike Hussey and Simon Katich are playing on the pitch with Australia on the score of 133 for three.

Australia was off to a sensible start in their second inning after India conceded them a 24 run lead. The two openers Simon Katich and Shane Watson started off well. They played sensibly and shared 87 runs for the first wicket.

After being the leading scorer from the Australia side in the first inning of the Test match, Shane Watson continued with his good form and started off in hurry with some smashing shots. He hit a half century in the second inning and added 67 runs in the Australian inning in the very first hour of the session along with Katich.

Watson being the aggressor moved to his half century from 51 deliveries but Dhoni’s decision to reintroduce Ishant for a second spell in the final half hour of the session proved a triumph. Watson (56) got his bail dislodged giving Ishant his first wicket.

Ponting eased his first ball to the cover boundary but fell facing his fourth delivery when he pulled Ishant straight to Suresh Raina at square leg.

After the loss of Clarke, Simon Katich and Michael Clarke took the guard and Australia was toiling on 100 for the loss of three wickets.

Australia at present is on 133 for the loss of three wickets with Katich (36) and Hussey (20) unbeaten.

August 24, 2010 in Sports by Kumar

India all set for Do-or-Die match against Kiwis

This triangular series for India in Sri Lanka has not yet gone well for the Indian cricket team as in three out of the two matches played, the team has depicted the miseries of the top Indian batting order. However, Indian captain feeling this the unnerving moment is looking forward at winning tomorrows match against Black cats.

The Black Cats had earlier thrashed India by 200 runs in the first ODI of the series when the Indian batsmen succumbed to the bowling of Kiwis on the low and embarrassing total of 88.In the last match also the Indian team was collapsed on a mere total of 103 runs which was chased by the Sri Lankan team in just 15 overs. This chase by the Sri Lankan batsmen clearly exposed the poor batting performance of Indian batsmen.

The teams rarely seen such poor performance has brought worry on the face of the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten as it has affected the confidence of the team. India’s main worry is the out of form youngsters who have failed to rise to the occasion in the absence of the senior players as Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh. Well, Yuvraj returning back with some run in the match might give Dhoni something to cheer about.

Dhoni showed worry for the upcoming match by saying:”The coming game is like semi final. We ought to do well in the match or we will have to pack our bags and go back home. Yuvraj batted well in last match and this is positive for team”.

However, New Zealand captain Ross Taylor said that Indian team is in habit of bouncing back and they are not going to take this match easy. He also said that Kiwis are looking forward for a good match without taking the opposition as easy.