World Cup squad for Indian Cricket team 2011

After much speculations, BCCI declared the 15 member Indian Squad for the mega cricket event World Cup 2011. World Cup 2011 beginning from February 19, 2011.

The team has Seven Batsman, one all-rounder, four pace bowlers and three unique spinners. Winning Captain of India Dhoni has been retained as Captain for the World Cup event and Virender Sehwag positioned as Vice Captain for the Indian team.

All rounder job is given to Yusuf Pathan and Dhoni is the only Wicket keeper in the squad are some of the highlights of the team.

Pacers as expected Zaheer Khan, current performer Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar got their position in the squad. Nehra overcomes Sreesanth and get into the team squad.

Little master Sachin, Young and dynamic Suresh Raina, powerful Yuvraj and Kohli were others placed on the batsman side.

Harbhajan, R. Ashwin and Piyush Chawla form the spinners' trio in the team squad.

Rohit Sharma, an all rounder, Spinner Pragyan Ojha, and pacer Sreesanth failed to find their place in the squad.

The selection panel, lead by chief Selector K. Srikanth chose the best 15 out of 30 probables at the meeting held at Chennai. Dhoni and Coach Gary Kirsten accompanied them through Tele Conferencing.

The 15-member team is:

* MS Dhoni (C)
* Sachin Tendulkar
* Virender Sehwag
* Gautam Gambhir
* Yuvraj Singh
* Suresh Raina
* Virat Kohli
* Yusuf Pathan (all-rounder)
* Zaheer Khan
* Ashish Nehra
* Munaf Patel
* Praveen Kumar
* Harbhajan Singh
* R. Ashwin
* Piyush Chawla

All the best for the Team India.

India Vs South Africa Test Series draw as 1-1

Indian Cricket team made the test series draw against South Africa after completing the fifth day of the third test for 166 runs.

The toss winning Indian side asked South Africa to bat first. In the first Innings, South Africa scored the considerable 362 runs which includes Kallis century. Kallis scored hefty 161 out of 291 balls and made their side comfortable for the first innings. Indian bowlers took the wickets at regular intervals. Sree santh took five wickets and Zaheer khan took 3 wickets.

India who had started their first innings scored 364 for all out. Sachin who hit his 51st century has brought the India score to 364 which paved the way for the India to cross the follow on mark. Dale Steyn took five wickets for the team South Africa.

South Africa who started their second innings on the fourth day scored 341 and set the difficult target of 340. Kallis, though he got injured scored 109 combined with the partnership Mark Boucher.

India who started their second innings, from the starting itself, India tried to draw the series. Sehwag, who was not performing well this series was out initially but later Dravid and Gambhir slowly played their innings. Later India was 166 for 3 wickets and the series was draw for 1-1.

2011 Cricket World Cup schedule

Group Division:

Group A:	Group B
Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada, Kenya.	India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands.

Match no.		Date	Teams	Venue
1		19 Feb	India vs Bangladesh	Dhaka
2		20 Feb	New Zealand vs Kenya	Chennai
3		20 Feb	Sri Lanka vs Canada	Hambantota
4		21 Feb	Australia vs Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad
5		22 Feb	England vs Netherlands	Nagpur
6		23 Feb	Pakistan vs Kenya	Hambantota
7		24 Feb	South Africa vs West Indies	New Delhi
8		25 Feb	Australia vs New Zealand	Nagpur
9		25 Feb	Bangladesh vs Ireland	Dhaka
10		26 Feb	Sri Lanka vs Pakistan	Colombo
11		27 Feb	India vs England	Kolkata
12		28 Feb	West Indies vs Netherlands	New Delhi
13		28 Feb	Zimbabwe vs Canada	Nagpur
14		1 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Kenya	Colombo
15		2 Mar	England vs Ireland	Bangalore
16		3 Mar	South Africa vs Netherlands	Mohali
17		3 Mar	Pakistan vs Canada	Colombo
18		4 Mar	New Zealand vs Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad
19		4 Mar	Bangladesh vs West Indies	Dhaka
20		5 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Australia	Colombo
21		6 Mar	India vs Ireland	Bangalore
22		6 Mar	England vs South Africa	Chennai
23		7 Mar	Kenya vs Canada	New Delhi
24		8 Mar	Pakistan vs New Zealand	Pallekelle
25		9 Mar	India vs Netherlands	New Delhi
26		10 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe	Pallekelle
27		11 Mar	West Indies vs Ireland	Mohali
28		11 Mar	Bangladesh vs England	Chittagong
29		12 Mar	India vs South Africa	Nagpur
30		13 Mar	New Zealand vs Canada	Mumbai
31		13 Mar	Australia vs Kenya	Bangalore
32		14 Mar	Pakistan vs Zimbabwe	Pallekelle
33		14 Mar	Bangladesh vs Netherlands	Chittagong
34		15 Mar	South Africa vs Ireland	Kolkata
35		16 Mar	Australia vs Canada	Bangalore
36		17 Mar	England vs West Indies	Chennai
37		18 Mar	Sri Lanka vs New Zealand	Mumbai
38		18 Mar	Ireland vs Netherlands	Kolkata
39		19 Mar	Australia vs Pakistan	Colombo
40		19 Mar	Bangladesh vs South Africa	Dhaka
41		20 Mar	Zimbabwe vs Kenya	Kolkata
42		20 Mar	India vs West Indies	Chennai
43		23 Mar	First Quarterfinal	Dhaka
44		24 Mar	Second Quarterfinal	Colombo
45		25 Mar	Third Quarterfinal	Dhaka
46		26 Mar	Fourth Quarterfinal	Ahmedabad
47		29 Mar	First Semifinal	Colombo
48		30 Mar	Second Semifinal	Mohali
49		02 Apr	FINAL	Mumbai

ICC Dream team 2010 includes Sachin and Sehwag

ICC, The International Cricket Council conducted an online poll to show the 40th anniversary of ODI cricket. ICC have decided to shortlist the dream team in 2010.

Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has been included in the ICC dream team in 2010. The master blaster has been included in the side for opening slot.

ICC put forward many categories to vote for the players in their website. Sachin, Sehwag and Ganguly are placed in the top order where as Kumble and Harbhajan are in the Spinners list. Kapil Dev is nominated for the All-Rounder category.

There were no players nominated from Indian side for middle order batsman or the fast bowlers. Adding to this Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the lone Indian in the category of Wicket Keepers.

According to the website of the ICC, it is asking for picking up the dream team of 48 shortlisted cricket players and to select the best match ever in the list of ten memorable matches. The poll will be conducted till January 2 of 2011.

Call back Dravid to Team India: Wasim Akram

Bring back Rahul Dravid for ODI in the Indian team squad! This was the quote given by ace bowler turned Cricket commentator Wasim Akram told reporters today. According to Wasim, there must be senior batsmen in the middle order in order to bring stability to the match.

He told that Rahul Dravid being the senior Batsmen should be placed back to India's ODI team as Rahul has the potential to offer a lot to the country in the 50 over format.

He quoted, "Dravid still has a lot to offer in ODIs. I believe that Dravid should be brought back into the (one-day) team. In the sub-continent, the current batsmen can do well, but on the overseas tours, India need a solid and experienced batsman like Dravid".

Akram also expressed his feelings towards the current bowling line up of Indian team.

The ace cricketer also told that the packed International Schedule has definitely affected the Indian players a lot. Both India and Srilanka playing their series back to back within the time gap of two months. This lead to the players to lose their interest in the contests.

Bring back Dravid atleast for the World Cup!!! All the best Dravid!!!

India stays top in ICC test rankings

After defeating the Srilanka in the third test match of the series Micromax Cup held in Srilanka, the Indian cricket team continues to be in top position in ICC test ranking.

In the three test matches against Srilanka, the host team managed to won the first match and second match, though there were many centuries, end up in a draw. India want to win the third match in order to level the series against Srilanka. Many injuries have already affected the Indian cricket team and this made India to be on the weeker side.

However, the India managed in third test to win the match and made the series draw by 1-1. VVS Laxman showed his brilliant performance on the field in the second innings of 3rd test and paved the way for victory for India.

Sehwag, who showed his fantastic performance in 1st innings and also he joined in the 7000 run mark bandwagon in this match.

Sachin, the master of records have once again proved his buoyancy on the field by winning the title of most capped player in test matches.

At last Dhoni, who proved his excellency in his captaincy and brings Indian cricket team back to Victorious path.

India, all the best for World Cup 2011.

Muralitharan: I will miss bowling to Sachin

Srilankan Ace Spinner Muralidharan after his retirement announced that he is going to miss bowling to our Little Master Blaster Sachin in his cricket career.

Muralitharan achieved his 800 wickets in Test cricket matches in his 18 years career in the cricket. He is not only achieved his mark but also guided Srilanka to a thumping 10-wicket win against India at Galle.

Murali quoted "I am going to miss the dressing room environment. The challenges of five-day cricket and first and foremost bowling to great players like Sachin Tendulkar. I will miss this,". [Source: ndtv.com]

Murali however does not think that his decision was not correct and also the decision was not premature one. He said that it was the perfect time to retire from the Test cricket.

Murali to his surprise, achieved his 800 wickets after he took wicket in his final ball in the test cricket against India.

Muralitharan said he felt overwhelmed by the love and respect showered on him by great players like Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram and Sourav Ganguly.

Muralitharan a real gentleman not only in cricket but also in his real life.

Congrats Murali!!!

Indian team squad for Srilanka Tour

Indian cricket team selectors have selected the 16 men squad for the next month Srilanka tour for the test match. Yuvraj Singh have been included in the 16 men squad, thanks for the selectors. Yuvaraj Singh was dropped from the team squad of Asia Cup because of his poor performance shown in Caribbean land and in Twenty20 World Cup.

Ace batsmen Rahul Dravid also comes back after he missed the test series against South Africa. As usual Sachin will be back in his position and VVS laxman on his way back to test match. Wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha have been included in the team at the expense of Dinesh Karthik.

Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth will handle the area of pace bowling while spin will be handled by Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra.

The first test will be played in Galle from July 18. The second and third tests will be played from July 26-30 and Aug. 3-7 in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.

Squad: MS Dhoni (wk & capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag (vice-capt.), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, M Vijay, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Wriddhiman Saha (wk)

India win Asia Cup beating Srilanka

India won the Asia cup 2010 by crushing Srilanka for a mammoth score defeat of 81 runs. India lifted this Asia cup after the much long period of 15 years. Yes, 15 years back, India bagged the Asia cup held at Sharjah in 1995.

Srilanka being in good form, made India restrict to 268 for 6 wickets in 50 overs. Off this, Dinesh Karthik, the batsman who replaces Virendhar Sehwag as Sehwag was injured, have made a brillant strike and took 66 runs off 84 runs. Skipper Dhoni scored 38 off 52 balls and Rohit Sharma later came up with vital knocks helps India to put a competitive score. Rohit scored a decent 41 runs.

Defending 268 runs, the home team entered the field with lot of confidence as they were already beaten India in the previous league match of Asia Cup. But Indian seam bowlers crushed their confidence and at one stage, the Srilankan Score was 51 runs for five wickets. Off this Zaheer Khan bagged two wickets, Praveen took 1 wicket. Nehra, one among his best performance, bagged 4 wickets which was crucial wickets for India.

Man of the match award was given to Dinesh Karthik for his wonderful performace on the field. India can have this Asia Cup win as their warm up for the forth coming World cup 2011.

Hats off India!!!

Muttiah Muralidharan Favors MS Dhoni

Srilankan ace spinner Muttiah Muralidharan shows his support towards MS Dhoni as recently he was under fire for the worst captaincy in the T20 world cup 2010. The early exit from the T20 world cup and the continued silly statements from Dhoni put him in trouble in the cricket arena.

Besides this trouble, Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralidharan told that Mahendra Singh Dhoni remains one of the best skippers in international cricket and it is not worthy that the captain should be criticized on the basis of just one bad tournament.

The world’s highest wicket-taker in Tests and ODIs, Muttiah played under the captaincy of Dhoni in Indian Premier League for the side Chennai Super Kings. During IPL, Muttiah was surprised by the captaincy attitude that Dhoni has showed during the IPL matches. Dhoni's captaincy should not be mislead on the basis of India’s early ouster from the showpiece event in the Caribbean.

"Dhoni is one of the best cricket captains I have seen. How can one doubt his captaincy when he recently won the IPL trophy for his team Chennai Super Kings," Muralitharan told mediapersons here.

Besises this, Muralidharan will quit cricket after the 2011 ODI World Cup in the subcontinent and the 38-year-old veteran of 132 Tests and 334 one-dayers said he wanted to sign off on a high.

T20 World Cup Final Austrialia Vs England

T20 World Cup 2010 Final match is scheduled at Barbodos, West Indies today at 15.30(GMT). The final on Sunday marks the start of another Ashes year. The old foes clash in England during the summer in a 5 game ODI series before the Ashes start in November.

The team for the final:

Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 David Warner, 3 Brad Haddin (wk), 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 David Hussey, 6 Cameron White, 7 Michael Hussey, 8 Steven Smith, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Dirk Nannes, 11 Shaun Tait.

England (probable) 1 Michael Lumb, 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Paul Collingwood (capt), 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Luke Wright, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Michael Yardy, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Ryan Sidebottom.

IPL 50th Match: CSK Vs Delhi Daredevils

The IPL match which is going to happen today between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils is the 50th match in this IPL 3 2010. This match is 13th match for this both team and this match is the deciding factor to get qualify for the semi finals.

Though Delhi Daredevils is the good team, the recent defeats made them to lose their momentum at present. The key players like David Warner, Sehwag, Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Collingwood are good in form but they fail to show their form in the field.

The match is at Chennai Chidambaram Stadium, which is the home ground for the in-form Chennai Super Kings. Dhoni led Super Kings showing their fantastic performance on the field and they were at the good position in the IPL points table. But CSK need to win these game which paves the way easy for getting into semifinal.

The previous match between CSK and Delhi Daredevils held at feroz shah Stadium Kolta, in which Chennai Super Kings defeated Delhi by chasing the score of massive 183. The "mangoose man" Mathew Hayden showed his all time brilliance in the batting area and scored 93 off just 43 balls.

Today match would be more interesting since both the teams are contesting for semi-finals. All the best CSK and Delhi!!!