Sri Lanka Makes It To Semis Of T20 World Cup

Sri Lanka steamrolled New Zealand in a Super 10 Match, and secured a berth in the T20 World Cup semi-finals. The feat was possible due to Rangana Herath, left arm spinner who gave only 3 runs for 5 wickets. The knock out match was turned on its head when Herath seized the opportunity to grab 5 wickets for 3 runs. His sensational spell was also coupled with his role in a run out. His contribution made it possible for Sri Lanka to defend a total of 119 only in their final group 1 game.

New Zealand was bowled out within 15.3 overs for only 60 runs, which is also the third lowest total in the international history of the T20 format. Herath’s figures of 5/3 are the third best ever in the T20 Internationals. He ranks right after team mate AjanthaMedis who holds the record of 6/8 and 6/16.

Today’s result made Sri Lanka finish on top of the Group 1 table, tying with South Africa at 6 points. They have been placed ahead of South Africa on the basis of net run rate. This marks the end of the team’s matches in the Super 10 section. The feat was achieved in the ZahurAhmen Chowdhury Stadium.

The team that Sri Lanka will be up against shall be decided after tomorrows match between Pakistan and West Indies, which will indicate the runners up for Group 2. India was the winner of Group 2 and will take on South Africa, the runner up of Group 1. The former match is to be held on 3rd April while the latter one will take place on 4th April. Both the games are to be held in Mirpur.

New Zealand’s fortunes took a browbeating after their star player Corey Anderson was rushed to the hospital for dislocating a finger while trying to catch the ball during Sri Lanka’s innings. Anderson did not come out to bat in the second innings. It seemed New Zealand had secured a spot in the semis as they were chasing a modest total of 120 runs. They began to a quick start by scoring 18 runs by the end of the second over.

The third over was handed over to Herath who worked his magic in the first ball itself. He caught the ball that was hit by Martin Guptill who ran for a single without receiving a response from fellow batsman Kane Williamson. Herath threw the ball back to Kumar Sangakkara the wicket keeper who dropped the bail within a blink.

Five balls later, Captain Brendan McCullum was also stumped out by Sangakkara as he had misjudged the ball’s delivery. In his second over, Herath dismissed Jimmy Neesham and Ross Taylor for zero runs in two back-to-back deliveries in the sixth over and New Zealand had to take two steps back.

New Zealand was at 23 runs for 4 wickets lost when Herath bowled two maiden overs. Senanayake, off spinner, claimed the wicket of Nathan McCullum which brought up the score tally to 33 for 6 for New Zealand.

On the side of New Zealand, Boult and Neesham both claimed 3 wickets apiece to topple over the top and bottom order of the Sri Lankan line up.

Don’t forget to tune into the nail biting matches of the T20 World Cup 2014 on your television set. To cheer team India in the semis, get your sports memorabilia quick!

England Defeated By Netherland At The World T20 2014

England has not had a good run on the cricket pitch this winter. As if losing the Ashes at 5-0 was not enough, the team lost to Netherlands by a margin of 45 runs at the World T20 tournament. This is perhaps the most humiliating time for the veteran cricketing team.

Netherland beats England

The loss to Netherland can be termed as the worst time in England’s cricketing history. The team from England comprising of first class cricketers lost to a team of relative novices who would probably not make it into county XI. This defeat has ensured the exit of the team from the World T20 cup being played in Bangladesh. The next tournament that the team will participate in would be against Scotland and would be played in Aberdeen.

The team will now probably appoint a new coach. The top job of coaching the team might not be handed over to Ashley Giles. He was the coach for limited overs and he failed to mask England’s half-hearted attempts at the game against a team which qualified for the Super 10 on the last leg of the group matches. Both the teams had been eliminated from the tournament even before this match was played.

Giles has commented that the team’s performance was not good and it was embarrassing and unacceptable. Social networking websites are abuzz with the shocking performance of the English team. In a week or two, England is due to appointing a new head coach. Most followers of the game believe he is not the best person to have the job for his lack of experience.

Giles felt disappointed to see his side being bowled out 88 runs within 17.4 overs. However, from the way the match was played it seemed as if the team had no will or yearn to win the game in the first place.

The Dutch had a quick start which meant bad news for England. The team regrouped to restrict the opponents at 133 runs for 5 wickets lost. When the English team’s time to field came, their approach was casual and by the time they realized how deeply they had sunk their heels in a loss, there was very little left that could be done. Pulls were missed and drives were errant.

This was not the first time that the English team faced defeat at the hands of the Dutch team. Holland defeated England in the World T20 2009 at the Lord’s stadium although it went on till the last ball.

Two of the opening English batsmen were able to reach double digit runs, but once Michael Lumb was out in the third over, the team seemed to have given up. The Dutch team took the game more seriously and fielded tight and bowled well.

In the past few outings of the English team, it won only 5 matches while losing 18 others. It includes ODIs, Tests and T20 matches. Giles’ ability to prepare the team in the right frame of mind for a game would be discussed at his interview for becoming head coach.

For staying clued in about the World T20, don’t forget to tune into the matches on your TV Set. To cheer for team India, buy sports merchandise online without delay!

India Exploits The Match Against Australia To Test Its Weaknesses

India had an advantage in their favour which they turned into an opportunity. The team had qualified for the semis with a game to space against a tough side like Australia. The team decided to test all the areas in which they had a shred of doubt and still went on to win the match.

India Beats Australia

A marked win by 73 runs after bowling out the Australian team for 86 within 16.2 overs will add confidence to the Indian team. On Friday, India will face South Africa in Mirpur for the first Semi-Finals of the tournament. South Africa was placed in the second position on Group 1, after Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand in the Super 10 match on Monday.

The Indian team chose to bat second and the conditions were significantly changed due to dew that started interfering with the game in late evening. The bowlers did not have the opportunity of defending a total in such conditions. Captain Dhoni did not win the toss and the team had to bat first on Sunday. The absence of dew could have hampered the game but it didn’t. ViratKohli was out of the game quite early which provided Yuvrajsingh enough time to get back his prowess.

Initially, Yuvraj struggled to hit the balls but later one he made some clean sweeps to entertain the audience in the stand. It is no wonder that he fetched one of the highest sums offered in the IPL auction. Singh was hesitant to run between the wickets which caused panic among partners at some point. The situation got under control when Dhoni came out to bat alongside him on the field.

Singh hit consecutive sixes off James Muirhead, leg spinner and went for a long haul off a delivery by Michael Starc. A classic swing off mid-wicket in a ball delivered by Shane Watson brought up his total to 50 runs. Yuvraj finally scored 60 runs off 43 balls with four sixes and five hours. With Dhoni, he had an 84 run stand for the fifth wicket. ShikharDhawan’s performance as opening batsman was also concerning as he failed to score good runs in the first three matches.

Dhoni chose AjinkyaRahane although it was Rohit Sharma playing at the other end who was dismissed quickly. The choice of the opening pair was debatable although the 19 runs off 16 balls by the batsman from Mumbai displayed good performance.

The Australian batsmen gave India a lot of practice for catching the ball under lights, which was a problem with the Indian team as brought up Dhoni is several press conferences. RavindraJadeja and Kohli caught two balls each, Rohit took one by diving in front and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar took one in the deep square leg.

Dhoni had reserved Mohit Sharma and Amit Mishra for later stages of the game. Mishra got to bowl for three overs while Sharma was given two. Sharma had replaced bowler Mohammad Shami for the match.

Do tune in to watch India take on South Africa on Friday on your TV sets. Make sure you get sporting merchandise to cheer team India!

Will Dhoni Get His First Half Century In The ICC World T20 2014?

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

MS Dhoni is one of the best players in the T20 format. He led the team to victory in the inaugural ICC World T20 series in 2007. Despite being a good player who has displayed style and talent on field, the coveted score of 50 has evaded him all through his career in international T20 cricket. Surprisingly, he is the only player with 772 runs who has not reached the 50 mark.

The closest that Dhoni had gone to achieving half century was in Stadium Australia against the Australian team. He was stuck on 48 when the match ended. Incidentally, in the penultimate over of the match, he was batting at 45 not out. Of the last over delivered, he got to hit only 2 balls off which he scored 3 runs. RavichandranAshwin had in fact faced the other 4 delivered. India was steamrolled at that match where the team lost by 31 runs.

A plausible cause for Dhoni eluding 50 runs at any particular match may be his position in the batting order. Dhoni usually bats in the middle order, where he goes out to play at No. 5 or No. 6. At this point in the game, very few overs are left to score off. A testimonial of this fact is that Dhoni has not been declared out in 16 of the 40 games that he has batted in. He has, in total, been a part of the squad for 43 times off 46 ones.

One of the games that he opted out for was in 2011 when the Indian team was touring the West Indiesciting fatigue. He played back-to-back in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and the IPL which is why he chose to opt out of the match. The other two times was in Zimbabwe, 2010, where Suresh Raina acted as the captain in these two games.

Other players who have also scored very well in the T20 format without a dingle half century are AlbieMorkel, Gary Wilson and HashimAmla. Brad Haddin, Australian Batsman-Wicketkeeper and West Indian player Darren Sammy are also present among the top 10 players who have eluded the half century.

Brendan McCullum with 1959 runs off 64 T20 matches is the highest scorer in the format, followed closely by MahelaJayawardene, 1335 runs in his folio. There are only 13 batsmen who have scored above 1000 runs in this format and sadly none of the Indians feature in it. The only player who comes close to making the list is GautamGambhir with 932 runs. He is followed by Yuvraaj Singh who has scored 868 runs and Suresh Raina, 859 runs.

RavindraJadeja, India’s star all-rounder performer is yet to score a half century in either the domestic or international form of the T20. Despite playing in 104 matches and scoring 1278 runs, his highest score remains 48 not out.

Tune in to the ICC World T20 2014 tourney to see if Dhoni manages to break the jinx. To cheer him on, you can buy sports memorabilia and merchandise. For practising the sport better, get your own cricket kit too!

Rohit Sharma’s Take On Yuvraj Singh And The Crucial Match Against Bangladesh

Rohit Sharma & Yuvraj Singh

Rohit Sharma stands rooted by the side of his team mate Yuvraj Singh for his out-of-form position and expects him to play the his best at the crucial innings against Bangladesh on Friday. Sharma expects the innings to bring Singh back in his top form.

He claims that it is just a matter of an inning. If Yuvraj manages to play it well, he will get his confidence back. Yuvraj has proved his talent time and again in T20 matches including that of World Cup. He hopes that the match against Bangladesh in Super 10 proves to be that elusive inning that would get him his form back. Sharma believes that would be good for the team.

Sharma also dismisses the accusation that Yuvraj has been sloppy on field. He believes Singh to be a good fielder and many good fielders have dropped catches. He stresses on the importance of that inning that would help Yuvraj get his act together.

Sharma agrees that this is the team’s brightest chance of getting in to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup since their victory at the 2007 inaugural edition. However, he doesn’t want to plan too much ahead and hence focuses on one game at a time. The game on Friday against Bangladesh is crucial and the team would take stock of the situation from there. Finals or for that matter Semi-Finals are a far cry.

Rohit believes that winning against Bangladesh is more important than bettering the net-run rate for securing a spot in the top four. If the team wins the match, the run rate would be automatically taken care of.

Luck was by the Indian side as in both games held previously against West Indies and Pakistan the team won the toss. Sharma confirmed that the team would stick to the game plan against Bangladesh as well. Every team member is working on improving their problem areas and all three aspects of the game- batting, fielding and bowling would be crucial for gaining victory. Moreover, the fact that they are playing against the home team created additional pressure as public support would be with the opponent.

Bangladesh would also have the advantage of knowing the conditions and hence play to their strengths. Whether Sharma would be batting in the middle is unsure. The captain and coach are yet to decide the batting order for the match.

Batting second can be a bit of problem as the ball is not being delivered in a straight line because the track is slow.

So far, ShikharDhawan and Sharma have been the openers. Sharma claims that they have good understanding of each other which makes running between wickets for singles easier. By opening strongly, they would make it simpler for the middle order batsmen to score. The PowerPlay or first six overs of the game will be very crucial.

If the team manages to win this match, India will be through to the semi-finals. Hence, don’t miss this nail biting match broadcast on your television set. Get the cheering gear for the Indian team to power them to victory!

The Twenty20 World Cup To Begin Soon!

The Twenty20 world cup is slated to begin soon and fans and cricket lovers cannot wait for all the action to play out in this mega tournament. Why is there a huge craze behind the ICC T20 world cup? This is mainly attributed to the exciting nature of Twenty20 as a universally accepted cricketing format. Cricket was always restricted to One Day Internationals and Test matches. These were loved and supported by genuine cricket fans, who form a sizeable number in India. However, there were non supporters and individuals who did not love these formats due to the lack of their intrinsic interest in the game, especially women and children.

As a result, the Twenty20 format has been a godsend for the ICC as it has brought in more and more non followers especially women. People, who never had an interest in cricket earlier, are now flocking to watch Twenty20 matches or following them meticulously on television. This is because of the shorter duration and interesting format of the game. The format ensures thrilling, intense cricketing clashes that no one wants to miss. Alongside, the best international cricketers going head to head are another temptation for sure. The sheer number of sixes or last minute dismissals or sudden reversals in fortunes is factors that attract everyone to this nail biting format.

As a result, the Twenty20 world cup which starts from the 16th of March, is being eagerly anticipated by fans and lovers of the sport. Television ratings are set to soar into uncharted territory and teams are preparing ardently to make the most of this mega event which comes only once in two years. Alongside, this year’s tournament will be held in Bangladesh with unpredictable and tricky pitches coming into play. The unpredictable nature of these pitches will make life difficult for batsmen and should set up some really exciting contests. Spinners are slated to dominate this edition of the Twenty20 championship.

Teams will be going all out for glory, especially the defending champions West Indies who won the 2012 edition. Alongside, teams like Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, who are in red hot form, will look to cash on the same at this tournament. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India will be vying for the trophy as well. Expect Pakistan to be the dark horse at this tournament as the team has been playing fabulously in the Asia Cup which is being held in Bangladesh currently. And who can rule out the hosts? Bangladesh has the advantage of playing in home conditions and the team looks pretty good. They will be looking to cause some major upsets at least.

All in all, this looks like a fabulous tournament ahead for cricket viewers and enthusiasts. Get hold of your tickets and snap up cool merchandise, autographed gear, sporting and fitness equipment and other memorabilia online. Buy these collectibles at reasonable prices and cheer for your favorite team with elan at the Twenty20 world cup!

Will India’s Bowling Live Up To Expectations At The T20 World Cup?

The ICC T20 world cup is about to kick off from the 16th of March and there is huge excitement and hysteria surrounding the same. A lot of curiosity and speculation centers on the state of the Indian bowling contingent and its performance in recent times. Even skipper MS Dhoni has blamed the poor bowling performance of his team for the losses abroad. While the batsmen have also come a cropper on bouncy and fast wickets abroad, the bowlers have given away runs in almost every game. Even in the ongoing Asia Cup, the Indian bowlers are not performing as well as expected with bowling failures leading to avoidable losses against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Will the Indian bowling unit live up to expectations this Twenty20 world cup? This mainly depends on how they perform in the remaining matches of the Asia Cup as they will be playing in similar conditions. Bangladesh is hosting both the Asia Cup and the T20 world cup and the Indian bowlers should get used to the unpredictable Bangladeshi pitches before the more important tournament begins. When it comes to the quality of the bowling attack, only Shami Ahmed stands out for his sheer consistency. Shami can generate decent pace and his ability to stick to a good line and length along with a good swing action augurs well for the team. Shami has always been the only wicket taker in recent times and will be India’s most viable asset for the tournament.

However, Shami has a tendency to leak runs, one that must be avoided if he is to perform to his full potential. Apart from Shami, the entire bowling attack lacks the tooth and bite required for combating other global competitors successfully. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is another mainstay of the bowling attack but has done little in recent times. He has been leaking runs and has not been getting adequate movement. Bhuvneshwar should be used judiciously by the captain instead of letting him finish seven to eight overs in a go. Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron are rampantly inconsistent and can give away runs at crucial junctures. However, Ishant has shown promise in recent times and can be a good bet if selected.

Alongside, Amit Mishra should definitely be given a look-in instead of Ravichandran Ashwin who has been ineffective to say the least in recent times. Mishra bowled well in the one match he was given against Pakistan after warming the benches for many of India’s tours. Ashwin should better his performance to stand a chance of selection. Alongside, Ravindra Jadeja is a useful addition to the fifth bowler’s position. He has been generally consistent and represents a handy bowling option. Stuart Binny has not really been tested yet and he should be given a game or two where he can harness his potential to the fullest.

Cheer for India with cool sporting equipment, fitness gear and autographed team merchandise. One can only hope that the Indian team overcomes its limitations and delivers at the Twenty20 world cup!