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Showing posts with label Adelaide Oval. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adelaide Oval. Show all posts

Sunday 15 February 2015

CWC 2015 - Ind Beats Pak At Adelaide - Champions For India

Champions of #India's Historic win against #Pakistan at #Adelaide #CWC 2015

#Shikhar Dhawan​ - set the foundation with a un-Dhawan like innings - risk free and lot of patience. My man of the match really.

#Virat Kohli​ - got back into form and took to the Pak bowlers with usual disdain and touch of arrogance. Did most of the two chances he got.

#Suresh Raina​ - capitalized brilliantly on a solid platform and took the game away from Pak with his power hitting

#MS Dhoni​ - marshalled his troops well in this crunch game and on back of a some poor cricket over last three months. Press, media and supporters, including me, were gunning for his throat. His personal form is still a worry but this CWC needs Dhoni more as India captain than batsman.



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CWC 20115 - Ind v Pak Starts In A Few Hours !! Super Exciting This

In a few hours from now, the biggest game of the competition (in terms of traditional rivalry and passion) gets underway at the Adelaide Oval in a Day/Night fixture.

#INDIA v #PAKISTAN

The sub continent giants collide very early in the tournament and am sure that will ignite, rather explode into a gala event!

India has never lost to Pakistan in a #CWC game.
See stats here...

On form Pakistan look a better side than India.
But, the occasion is such that its more about mental skills than cricketing ones that would decide the eventual winner. #MSDhoni holds an edge over his counterpart #MisbahUlHaq in that department.

All in all an exciting prospect and look forward to a great game of cricket.
Best of luck to both teams

  

Sunday 8 February 2015

Why Will Pak Beat India At Adelaide In 2015 ICC World Cup?



Checked out the wonderful Ad above? Am sure all of Pak will be as frustrated as the guy shown ...

In all world cup editions till date where Pak have faced Ind, they have been on the losing side. Amazingly, all those losses have been pretty one sided.

1992 - by 30+ runs at Sydney (league match, Pak went on to win the World Cup then)

1996 - by 50+ runs at Bengaluru (quarter final - knockout game)

1999 - by 40+ runs at Manchester (super sixes match, Pak reached finals of the World Cup then)

2003 - by 6 wickets at Jo'burg 

2011 - by 40+ runs at Mohali (semi final - knockout game)

2015 - WHO WILL WIN? - at Adelaide (league match)

Clear indicator they seem to be under pressure against India at the biggest stage of cricket.

So, how is it about to change?

Will Pak beat Ind at Adelaide?

If we were to go by law of averages - it is long over due.

24 years without winning against Ind will hurt surely...

Here are some reasons to think why Pak will emerge victorious at the Adelaide Oval on 15th Feb '15:

 - Australian pitches are about bowling strengths than batting. Although AO is a belter of a track and one of the best pitches for batting in Australia, the natural bounce and swing should suit the Pak bowling (much much superior than the pedestrian Ind bowling at the moment)

 - Ind is in a hopeless situation at the moment in all departments - bowling and batting (fielding exempted because their fielders don't get enough runs to defend anyway). This is the best time for Pak to capitalize and deal a blow on their already low confidence.

 - Ind has been sledging all the way in Australia without focusing on cricket. Clearly distracted. Pak on the other hand seem to be focused on the game. Although they are finding it a bit tough in NZ, they seem more zoned in on the job.

 - They can exploit weaknesses in the Indian batting big time .. get through Kohli, Rahane and Dhoni and the rest will take care of itself. The same does not apply to India's bowling woefully struggling to get a few wickets eveyr game. Pak batsman can (although weaker of the two teams) target that and make up for loss of superstar value!

Lets see how it goes? because don't think Pak will get a better opportunity to strike early, strike dearly at Ind in a World Cup match. If they meet again later in the tournament in knock-out stages (it has never happened before) then I will back India to win that game. 

If India reach knockouts, they will be a completely different outfit to negotiate. That man Dhoni has ability and mastery of setting up "big games" psychologically and winning them.  

Go Pak grab your chance! Team India ... watch out if you need to keep your 100% record intact! 

Ind meet Pak at the Adelaide Oval in the Pool B opening match on 15th Feb.

Match starts 8:50 am India time, 9:20 am Pakistan time.

Let the match EXPLODE.........

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Sunday 18 January 2015

Is David Warner The "Spoilt Brat" Of World Cricket?

Its happened yet again!

#DavidWarner is at it ... with the touring Indian team.

He was seen getting into a verbal duel with Indian batsmen #RohitSharma and #SureshRaina in an ugly incident during their #CarltonMidTriSeries tournament at Adelaide Oval.

It so happened that during India's batting innings, Sharma and Raina were rebuilding the India innings pretty well. They seemed to be on course to post a good score. 

In one of #JamesFaulkner's overs (23rd of the innings), they ran for an overthrow. The Aussies believed that the ball had ricocheted off Rohit's body and batsmen shouldn't have taken the run. (unwritten but widely followed cricket protocol). Replays showed otherwise. Nothing seemed to touch Rohit and hence the run was pretty valid and within rules of sportsmanship.

However during the change of overs, Warner decided to speak up his mind to Rohit about it. What followed was ugly exchange of words between the two and Warner was repeatedly heard saying "Speak English" to the Indian duo. The umpires and other team members intervened at the right time to sort things out and got on with the game.

Australia went to win the match by 4 wickets (although they suffered a lot of hiccups late in their innings and just about managed to get over the line)

David Warner was fined 50% of his match fee for his behavior and it instantly sparked a raging discussion whether the game has remained a #GentlemansGame? and aggressive play is being mistaken as a verbal slugfest or gibberish talk on the field?

#MartinCrowe even suggested a card system (like in #Soccer) to bring this in check.

The big question remains.
Who will "bell" Warner off his ways to deal with on field situations.
Hope the Australian captain is listening?

Monday 29 December 2014

Aus v Ind (1st Test Match, Adelaide, 2014)

Border Gavaskar Trophy
Venue: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide


These two teams seemed to have decided to pay tribute to #PhilHughes and test cricket in the best possible way!. A stunner of a test match !!

Until end of Day 4, it looked pale and one-sided with Australia looking the only side to win this match. On the back of two centuries from #DavidWarner in each innings and some superb batting performances from #SteveSmitth and #MichaelClarke, the Aussies looked like they had this game in the bag!

Capt. Clarke declared the Aussie second innings at 290 for 5, setting up India an improbable 363 to win the test match in 90 overs on turning Adelaide Oval pitch.

What turned out was absolute magic and test cricket at its absolute best! 2 for 100 odd at lunch seemed like same old story of wickets falling at regular intervals leading to an Aussie victory.

#MuraliVijay and #ViratKohli had different ideas after lunch though. Virat on the back of his first innings century started playing confidently while Vijay gained fluidity in his strokeplay as the game progressed. No wickets fell in the second session and with India around 200 mark at tea, things started looking like turning the tide around.

Then Lyon struck, not one, not twice but thrice in quick succession claiming Vijay plumb in front, Rahane adjudged caught at silly point albeit controversially and Rohit Sharma. Suddenly Aussies were favorites again!

This is when Kohli sensed he needed to up the tempo and start pushing on. And boy did he push it? Along with Saha he started inching ever  so closer to Australian total. When Saha went, he accelerated even further! Things looked pretty comfortable.
India need 60 runs to win, 4 wickets in hand.

Alas, tragedy struck, a rank long hop by Lyon, Kohli could have dispatched it anywhere outside the ground on any other day. But this wasn't his, it was Lyon's. As luck would have it, he pulled that delivery straight to mid-wicket in Mitch Marsh's hands. This was the big fish Aussies were waiting for! They had it delivered on a plate! A superb innings of 145 had come to an end.

The end for India wasn't far from here. It came soon after and Australia went 1 up in the series. A game to remember for
 - In remembrance of Phil Hughes
 - Dave Warner and Virat Kohli - tons in both innings
 - Lyon's 12 wicket match haul. 5 for in the second bettered legendary Warne's record against India (Lyon - two 5-fors against India vs Warne's one).


Memorable test all the way!
Man of the Match - Nathan Lyon