India started badly losing 4 early wickets, before Robin Uthappa & Captain MS Dhoni guided India to a score of 141 for 9 (Uthappa 50, Asif 4-18). Pakistan looked to be on track early on, but India came back into the game with wickets and eventually Pakistan made 141 for 7 (Misbah 53, Pathan 2-20). Misbah was run out off the last ball of the match.

In the bowl off, Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa all nailed the stumps, but the Pakistan bowlers while Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi all missed as a sell-out crowd celebrated an enthralling finale.

You can view a video of the finish at the official world twenty 20 site here.

Tags: Cricket News, Pakistan Cricket News, India Cricket News

The pressures that go with captaining the Indian cricket team are enormous. And it has just taken it’s toll on ‘The Wall’, Rahul Dravid.

In a move that surprised everybody, Dravid stepped down as Indian captain today from both forms of the game. The move is to enable him to focus on his batting. The BBC quoted him as saying, “I enjoyed the captaincy, I loved it, but it can get tough after a while and some of the enjoyment can go away. So, I thought it was the right time to step aside.”

According to the BCCI “Rahul Dravid met Sharad Pawar (the Indian Board President) at Delhi on September 13 and expressed his desire to step down as the captain of the Indian team and requested that he should not be considered for the job from the ensuing Australia series.”

The 33-year-old Dravid assured that he would extend full co-operation to his successor and contribute as a batsman and senior player, the statement added.

BCCI president Sharad Pawar said he has forwarded Dravid’s resignation to the Board.”

The big question now of course is, who will captain India going forward?

In my mind, the contenders are:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni - the current India 20 20 captain. However he is quite inexperienced in Test Cricket. Wearing the gloves, looking after his batting and undertaking the captaincy would be too large a burden.

The other two options are Sachin Tendulkar and dare I say it, Sourav Ganguly once again. Purely looking at the series coming up, against Pakistan and Australia, either of the two would be the best for the job - if they want to do it.

Sachin’s batting did suffer when he was captain, as did Ganguly’s. However Ganguly has a very good captaincy record.

It will be interesting to see which way the board goes.

Stay tuned for more on this….

Tags: Cricket News, One Day Internationals News, Test Cricket News, India Cricket News

Shane Warne has completed his list of the 50 greatest players. At the very top of his list is Sachin Tendulkar, just ahead of Brian Lara at number 2.

Warne put Tendulkar ahead of Lara, because of his mental toughness. An example that Warne provides refers to Tendulkar’s 248 in Australia in 2003-04. Warne mentions “he (Tendulkar) was worried about getting out cover driving so he decided to cut out the shot. I saw the wagon wheel for his next innings: he scored 248 without a single cover drive.

Like Lara, he has scored runs all over the world. I have seen him run down the pitch and hit Glenn McGrath over the top for six, and I have seen him hit me for six against the spin going around the wicket. I have been lucky to get to know him off the field as well. He is quiet and humble. A great player and a great man”.

Read about the full list in Warne’s column in the Times.

Tags: Cricket News, One Day Internationals News, Test Cricket News, India Cricket News

The Indian selectors in their infinite wisdom have ended up with a situation, where there is only one recognised opener Wasim Jaffer, in the 15.

So the age old question persists - who will open the batting for India along with Jaffer?

It could be Dravid, it could be Yuvraj Singh making a comeback, it could be Dinesh Karthick or even Sourav Ganguly? Adding to this of course is the possibility that India might go in with fiver bowlers on a flat pitch in hot conditions.

Anyone’s guess I think.

Read more about it here via Rediff

Also interestingly, Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar is trying to play the psychological card, saying that India could beat them 2 zip. Is it mental games or does he truly believe that?

Read more via Cricinfo

Tags: Bangladesh Cricket News, Test Cricket News, India Cricket News

“As much as it would seem that Greg is probably better off without all the angst that comes with one of the most demanding jobs in cricket, I doubt he’ll feel completely fulfilled,” the older Chappell wrote in his column in Mumbai tabloid Mid Day on Thursday.

“A perfectionist, even one who has mellowed, is never going to be happy with under-achieving on his expectations.”

Read the full text of Ian Chappell’s comments in his column at the Mumbai based Mid-day paper

Tags: World Cup Cricket 2007, Cricket News, One Day Internationals News, India Cricket News

Ian Chappell who is always forthright and not known to mince his words, suggested in his column in the Mumbai based Mid-day news paper that “At the moment he (Sachin Tendulkar) looks like a player trying to eke out a career; build on a glittering array of statistics.

If he really is playing for that reason and not to help win as many matches as he can for India then he is wasting his time and should retire immediately.”

He also said that Sachin’s form was in direct contrast to that of Brian Lara, who was fleet footed and aggressive in his play. Age and injuries have appeared to take a toll on the Indian, whilst the West Indian has continued to play in the natural style that has been his trademark for long.

Read the full text of Chappell’s article here

Chappell’s comments have been slammed by former players in the Indian media.

Former Indian wicketkeeper batsman Chandrakant Pandit said Tendulkar has played the game for long to judge himself and decide on retirement.

“Sachin Tendulkar is good enough to know his ability and approach towards the game. He is an experienced player and knows how long he should carry on playing,” Pandit said.

“With his experience, he knows what is required at that level, he is very much aware. He can judge himself better than anybody else. I don’t think anybody should advice him whether to continue or not,” he added.

Read more about the reactions to Ian Chappell’s comments here.

Tags: World Cup Cricket 2007, Cricket News, One Day Internationals News, Test Cricket News, India Cricket News

So in all likelihood, India will become the second fancied team from the sub continent, to bow out from the tournament in the first round itself.

At the start of the day, Indian captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and elected to put Sri Lanka in. The Indian bowlers started well, extracting pace and bounce off the wicket. Danger man Sanath Jayasuriya was snaffled by Zaheer Khan early, to leave Sri Lanka 33 for 1 off 7 overs.

At one stage Sri Lanka were 133 for 4 (off 32.2 overs), but Chamara Silva and Dilshan combined well to preserve wickets and put together a crucial partnership of 83 runs.

Sri Lanka finished on 254 for 6 off their alloted 50 overs.

The Indian reply never really got off to a good start, losing 3 wickets for 44 runs in 12 overs, including the prized wickets of Sachin Tendulkar for zero and Sourav Ganguly for 7.

Captain Rahul Dravid scored a brave 60 and Virender Sehwag put up a fight with 48 runs off 46 balls. However Sehwag’s dismissal, followed quickly by the run out of Yuvraj Singh and then Dhoni LBW to Murali sealed India’s fate.

Eventually India were bowled out for 185 in 43.3 runs. Muralitharan was the man of the match taking 3 wickets for 41 runs.

With the Indian batting failing to fire, when it was most needed, it seems that the hopes of a billion people now vanish with it.

Read the full story of the match here.

Tags: World Cup Cricket 2007, Cricket News, Sri Lanka Cricket, One Day Internationals News, India Cricket News

Fame can be fickle and no more so than in India, where cricketers are treated as demi-gods when they perform well, and shunned by unreasonable followers, when they fail.

The board president Sharad Pawar has taken sections of the media to task, alleging that their coverage, comments etc. are leading to unrest in the country.

Indian board president slams media
Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, has hit out at sections of the nation’s media for provoking unrest after India’s loss to Bangladesh in their World Cup opener.

Tags: World Cup Cricket 2007, Cricket News, One Day Internationals News, India Cricket News

Bangladesh beat India by 5 wickets at Port of Spain, Trinidad today.

On a pitch with a little bit of assistance to the bowlers, Rahul Dravid elected to bat after winning the toss.

But his batsmen let the initiative slip.

India put on an insipid batting display and were bowled out for 191 in 49.3 overs.

Man of the match right-arm pacer Mashrafe Mortaza did the bulk of the damage, picking four wickets for 38 runs. He was well-supported by left-arm spinners Abdur Razzak (3-38) and Mohammad Rafique (3-35).

Sourav Ganguly with 66 and Yuvraj Singh with 47 were the only ones to put up a fight.

Bangladesh had little difficulty chasing down the paltry target. 17-year-old opener Tamim Iqbal put them on course with a superb 51 from 53 balls. Mushfiqur Rahim was unbeaten with 59 when the winning runs were scored.

Read the full story here

To top off a really miserable day for the Indians, Sachin Tendulkar was then also allegedly accused of ambush marketing by Hutch, who are one of the sponsors of the world cup.

Mobile operator Hutch, one of the official sponsors of the ongoing cricket World Cup, complained to the International Cricket Council on Saturday about Sachin Tendulkar endorsing Reliance Communications’ telecom products, saying it amounts to ambush marketing.

A Hutch spokesperson said players taking part in the World Cup are not allowed to endorse the competition of sponsors and Hutch is the global sponsor of the mega event.

Read this story from rediff.com

Tags: World Cup Cricket 2007, Cricket News, Bangladesh Cricket News, One Day Internationals News, India Cricket News

After Sunil Gavaskar criticised the Australian’s for their on field behaviour, Ricky Ponting has hit back at Gavaskar.

Just prior to the World Cup starting, it is sure to be a topic of conversation.

Read the full story below

Ponting targets Gavaskar over behaviour
Ricky Ponting said it was “high and mighty” of Sunil Gavaskar to complain about poor on-field behaviour as Australia’s captain questioned his role in India’s lack of recent Test success.

Tags: Cricket News, World Cup Cricket 2007, Test Cricket News, India Cricket News, Australian Cricket News, ICC Super Series