Australia vs India Super Eight T20 Match Preview

India vs. Australia Super Eight T20 match is among the most crucial match of this tournament. After the comprehensive victory against England and Harbhajan Singh`s brilliant comeback has raised questions as to what exactly will be a winning combination against George Bailey`s men who have looked good in both their group league matches against Ireland and West Indies respectively. Australia would love to prove to the world that it has not lost its winning touch and that despite being placed at the bottom in Twenty20 world cricket, they have the same flair and touch of invincibility as before.

India, on the other hand will try to come with similar performance they came against England. India won the most convincing match in this tournament against any super-8 team. Indian batting was impeccable and bowling was superb. Even the fielding against England was exceptional and that contributed to a great extent in winning the one-sided tournament.

India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni indicated Thursday that he would be going in with five bowlers against Australia in Friday’s crucial Super Eights match of the World Twenty20 tournament, a move which will mean that India will have one batsman short. India are likely to go in with five specialist bowlers to plug their bowling loopholes when they take on the mighty Australians in its opening `Super Eight` fixture of the ICC World Twenty20 on Friday.

In that case, either opener Virender Sehwag or Yuvraj Singh may have to sit out of the match and Dhoni admitted that it would be a "tough decision". It will be interesting to see what bowling combination Dhoni would prefer for the first `super eight` game and whether he would opt for three spinners or three pacers. On current form, Lakshmipathy Balaji is a better bowler at the death overs than the 33-year-old Zaheer Khan mainly because of the variety of slower deliveries he bowls.

The two key batsmen in the Australian set-up are left-handers David Warner and Mike Hussey. The presence of the duo at the top of the order certainly means that Harbhajan`s inclusion is necessary because of his stupendous record against the left-handers. Ravichandran Ashwin, who was rested against England, will also make a comeback into the playing eleven and Irfan Pathan, who has been providing the team with breakthroughs regularly is certain to play in eleven. The batting, however, bears a much more settled look with the good news being that Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma are back among runs. The only thing to worry will be Yuvraj Singh`s place in batting order. The talented left-hander has been struggling with the bat.

The main threat for India will be all-rounder Shane Watson who is in prime form having won back-to-back MoM awards. Watson has been cleverly used by skipper Bailey as he has proved to be a potent partnership breaker. The Indian batsmen will need to be careful against Watson. Left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc can prove to be a handful but it will be chinaman bowler Brad Hogg who will need to play a big role. The only problem for Australia will be its middle-order which hasn`t been tested in the two matches which were single-handedly won by Watson. The all-rounder has taken full advantage of the Powerplay overs to slaughter the bowlers. With Warner and Hussey for company, the `terrific trio` make up for a superb top-order.

Key players

Australia: Shane Watson, Michael Hussey, David Warner, Brad Hogg, Pat Cummins 

India: Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin.

Follow-on puts India in strong position against New Zealand

Follow-on puts India in strong position against New Zealand

India is in strong position against New Zealand in the first Test match. With almost 6 sessions to go, you can expect a great for India in this Test Match. Indian spinners forced NZ for follow-on in the first innings. Indian spinners picked up nine first innings wickets between them, Ashwin finishing with 6 for 31. Both Ashwin and Ojha used the the dipping length of the floated, spinning ball, slow turn off the track and the uneven bounce on one side of the pitch to keep up their interrogation of New Zealand's fortitude in adverse circumstances.

Earlier, Cheteshwar Pujara cracked a solid 159 and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit 73 which helped India to reach 438. Dhoni and Pujara earlier consolidated India's position with a 127-run stand for the sixth wicket, while Ashwin contributed 37 runs with five boundaries. 

Cheteshwar Pujara

Pujara, who replaced retired Rahul Dravid at number three made his first three-figure score only in his fourth Test and sixth innings.

Some years ago, the question would be asked: Was anyone good enough to replace Rahul Dravid in the Indian team? Now, we the answer in the form of Pujara, who had emerged as a run-making machine on the domestic circuit. Here was a batsman born to play Test cricket, technically sound and temperamentally gifted, immune to the rising Twenty20 phenomenon.

Pujara reached the heights of his mastery in domestic cricket when he hammered three triple-centuries in just one month, an almost unheard of feat.

Hoping see India seal this match by end of fourth day !!!

Hockey Raises Hope After Good Fight Against NetherLands

Hockey Raises Hope After Good Fight Against NetherLands

Back in the Olympics after a hiatus of eight years, past masters of the game India produced a valiant fightback in the second-half before losing 2-3 to world number three The Netherlands in their opening Group B match of the men's hockey competition on Monday. India, returning to the Olympics after a gap of eight years, started off the match with a fast attack, but the Netherlands came close to scoring on the counter before Birendra Lakra effected a fine clearance.

On Monday, eight time winners India gave tough fight to much higher ranked Netherlands before going down 2-3 in their opening London Olympic Games pool B men's hockey competition here. The Netherlands, the World No.3, opened up a 2-0 lead within the first half hour mark, but the Indians rallied back remarkably during a four-minute blitz after half time to draw parity at the riverbank arena. However, the European powerhouse struck the winner from a penalty corner midway into the second session to log full points.

Indians, ranked tenth in the world played well, particularly in the midfield, but their forwards were often found lacking, as they made a mess of a number of golden opportunities. But the defence looked solid, with V Raghunath cutting out some beautiful Dutch moves. Indian skipper Bharat Chettri also shone under the bar making some brilliant saves.

The Indian players' nerves were on display in their opening match, where all but two of their players were making the maiden appearance in Olympic Games. India's fightback began in the 45th minute when Tushar Khandekar's cross from the left flank struck the far post and rebounded into the circle. An opportunist Dharamvir Singh capitalised on the chance by beating goalkeeper Jaap Stockmann with a firm shot.

Three minutes later India were level at 2-2 when Gurwinder Chandi picked up a short pass from Gurbaz Singh inside the circle and dribbled past a defender before pushing the ball towards Shivendra Singh, who tapped in for India's second goal. Penalty corner specialist Mink van der Weerden reclaimed the lead for The Netherlands when he sent in a drag flick just under the cross-bar.

Hockey, in which India has an impressive record with eight Olympic gold medals, is officially the national sport. The Golden Era of hockey in India was the period from 1928 - 1956 when India won 6 consecutive gold medals in the Olympics. During the Golden Era, India played 24 Olympic matches, won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals. The two other gold medals for India came in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics. 

Hockey alone has provided 11 metals (8 gold, 1 silver and two bronze medals). Apart from the three in shooting, the Indians have got two each in athletics and wrestling and one apiece from weightlifting, tennis and boxing.

We all know what happened in Chile in 2008. India was playing the qualifiers and was unable to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. It was the first time since 1928 that Indian men were not representing our National Game at the mega event. Since then there have been a lot of changes that have happened in Indian hockey.

Four years later India has got the chance to undo what happened to them in Chile. In the last three decades, Indian hockey has lost the connection that it once had and people now have more reasons to criticize the most loved game than to like it and without fail they are doing it.

London Olympics provides good opportunity to regain the fans back the national pride - Hockey ! With good fight in first match  against Netherlands, we can expect better show in coming matches !

London Olympics Few Hour Away - Clocks Ticking Faster !

London Olympics Few Hour Away - Clocks Ticking Faster !

Have you ever wondered how the Olympics started? In Olympia, Greece the Olympic Games were held every four years. First Olympic game was recorded in 776 BC; that was about 3,000 years ago. At that time this great festival took place to honor the Greek gods. Olympics were held during the great festival. The Olympics were called Olympiad in Greece. 

London is all set to dazzle the world with a grand opening ceremony to launch the greatest show on earth featuring over 10,000 athletes over the next fortnight, a spectacle that has seen the cost escalating to £9.3 billion ($14.5 billion).

Eighty-one athletes in London will form the largest Indian contingent ever to march at the Olympic Games. But if numbers could turn into Olympic success, a country of 1.2 billion should have grabbed at least 1000 qualifications and maybe 100 medals. If not that, then what’s the reason for India hoping to come home with a medals kitty heavier than ever before? 

Sixteen years ago in Atlanta, which was 16 years after India’s last Olympic medal and 44 years after the last individual medal, Leander Paes changed India’s ‘participation-matters’ outlook. An athlete has to soak in the pride, the honour to represent the country before he could mount the podium with the five rings and the national anthem sends a tear rolling down the cheek. That’s how Leander won that bronze and made every Indian believe: “It’s not beyond us.” 

Armed with a new-found self-belief, India's top athletes will seek to script a fresh chapter in the country's Olympic history as they go into the 30th edition of the sporting extravaganza from tomorrow with a realistic chance of winning medals.

Never before has an Indian contingent raised so much expectations and London could just be the launching pad for a new sporting era.

Five moments that will make Olympic history at the London Games:-

 

USAIN BOLT - If Bolt can overcome in-form fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake, he will become the first man to achieve the 100m and 200m Olympic sprint double twice.

MICHAEL PHELPS - Needing only two medals to equal the record of 18 held by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, Phelps will have plenty of chances.

BRAZIL FOOTBALL TEAM - Despite being the most successful team in World Cup history with five titles, Brazil have never won Olympic gold. 

OSCAR PISTORIUS - South Africa's "blade runner" is set to be the first double amputee athlete to compete at the Olympics after being selected for the 4x400m relay.

SAUDI WOMEN - For the first time in Olympic history, every country represented at the Games will include female athletes after Saudi Arabia agreed to send two women to compete.

One of the most telling images in the past 30 years of sports television was the moment at the Opening Ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games when Muhammad Ali, shaking from the growing effects of Parkinson’s disease, courageously lifted the torch and sent a flame up to the Olympic cauldron.

Viewers from world wide are awaiting the most comprehensive coverage of an Olympic Games ever. Settle back and enjoy it !

INDIA GO UP 1-0

INDIA GO UP 1-0

India had an all-round performance to show for their efforts against Sri Lanka on Saturday. India were back and roaring at  Hambantota as they defeated the home team Sri Lanka by 21 runs in the 1st ODI and took a 1-0 lead in the 5 match series. Indian batsmen made merry on a good batting wicket and scored 314/6 in 50 overs. Sri Lanka could manage only 293/9 and ended 21 short of the target. Virat Kohli was adjudged the Man of the Match for his 106 in 113 balls.

Virat Kohli's century is his 12th in ODIs and fourth against Sri Lanka. However, it is his first century in Sri Lanka. No batsman has scored more hundreds than Kohli in 2012. Kohli has posted three successive centuries against Sri Lanka in ODIs.

Kohli became the first player to register four hundreds in ODIs this year. His fourth century against Sri Lanka is his 12th in ODIs. Kohli became the first visiting player to post a hundred at Hambantota

Kohli's tally of 596 runs at an average of 149.00 is a record in five innings in succession, eclipsing Matthew Hayden's aggregate of 529 at an average of 132.25 in 2007.

 

The 173-run stand between Sehwag and Kohli is the fifth-highest second-wicket stand for India against Sri Lanka. It is, however, India's second-highest such stand in Sri Lanka. Kumar Sangakkara's 133 is the fourth-highest score by a Sri Lankan batsman in an ODI defeat. While Tillakaratne Dilshan has made the highest such score twice (160), Sangakkara has also made 138 in the loss to India in Jaipur in 2005. Sri Lanka's score of 293 is their fifth-highest in an unsuccessful chase and the second-highest score in a failed chase in home ODIs. The highest remains 411 against India in Rajkot in 2009.

 

India's 314 is their 16th 300-plus score against Sri Lanka and their third such score against Sri Lanka in 2012. It is also the most number of 300-plus scores India have made against any team.

Brief scores: India 314/6 in 50.0 overs (Virat Kohli 106, Virender Sehwag 96, Suresh Raina 50, Thisara Perera 3/70) beat Sri Lanka 293/9 in 50.0 overs (Kumar Sangakkara 133, Thisara Perera 44, R Ashwin 2/46, Irfan Pathan 2/37) by 21 runs

Man-of-the-match: Virat Kohli for his 106-run innings which helped India set a daunting total of 314 on the board

India tour of Sri Lanka - Trailer before T20 World Cup Begins

India tour of Sri Lanka - Trailer before T20 World Cup Begins

India tour of Sri Lanka 2012 will begin on Saturday, July 21, 2012 in Sri Lanka. India tour of Sri Lanka 2012 will consist of 5 ODI and Only T20 match to be hosted by Sri Lanka in Jul-Aug 2012. Hope India regains some form just before T20 World Cup, which is being held in Sri Lanka later this year from September 18 to October 7. This Tour will be a Trailer before T20 World Cup Begins ! Come Roar and Cheer for Men in Blue !!!