Mumbai Indians won the match by 4 wickets

Mumbai Indians played another home match at Brabourne stadium today against the visitors Kings XI Punjab. Mumbai Indian wons the toss & put the Kings XI Punjab to bat first.

Kings XI Punjab started their innings moderately, they lost Ravi Bopara in second over but Shaun Marsh played well & scored 57 runs 47 balls, meanwhile they were loosing wickets regularly. By the end of 20 overs they scored a total of 163 loosing all the 10 wickets.

Mumbai Indians started their chase of the target 164, it was Sachin Tendulkar & Shikhar Dhawan who opened the innings for Mumbai Indians. Mumbai Indians were batting well & were meeting the required rate. Things were going very well for Mumbai Indians till they lost their 5th wicket in 16th over. The asking rate started to increase, but Mumbai Indians overcame these when Sathish hit 2 consecutive fours in the first 2 balls of 19th over. Then the things changed, Mumbai Indians were back on the track, finally scoring their target of 164 in 19.3 overs.

Mumbai Indians won the match by 4 wickets & they are still holding the top position in the rankings table.

Delhi Daredevils won the match against KKR

Today, Delhi Daredevils played their home match against Kolkata Knight Riders at Feroz Shah Kotla. Delhi Daredevils won the toss & elected to bat first.

Delhi started to bat aggressively right from the beginning, they lost 3 quick wickets in first 3 overs. But later on David Warner & Paul Collingwood both put up a partnership of 128 runs. Paul Collingwood got out in 19.2 over scoring 53 runs from 45 balls. David Warner was unbeaten & played throughout the innings & scored his first century in the IPL cricket. He scored 107 runs from 69 deliveries which included 9 fours & 5 sixes. After 20 overs, Delhi Daredevils lost only 4 wickets scoring a total of 177 runs.

Kolkata Knight Riders started their chase of 178, They did not give their start as aggressive as Delhi Daredevils did. They lost 3 wickets in first 5 overs, their run rate started to drop & required rate started to increase. They started to loose wickets on regular basis. By the end of 20 overs Kolkata Knight Riders could score only 137 runs loosing 9 wickets.

Delhi Daredevils won the match by 40 runs. Man of Match was David Warner for his unbeaten Century.

Mumbai Indians won by 41 runs..

Deccan Chargers won the toss & put Mumbai Indians to bat first. Mumbai Indians started their innings with the openers Shikhar Dhawan & Sachin Tendulkar. Mumbai Indians were no so aggressive as wickets started to fall in regular intervals, only Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar was fighting a lone battle for the team. Even Sachin Tendulkar got out, scoring 55 runs out of 43 deliveries, in the 16.4th over. Later came Bhajji who batted very aggressively & hit 49 runs from just 18 deliveries & led the Mumbai Indians to reach a Total of 172 runs after 20 overs.

Deccan Chargers started their innings chasing the target of 173 runs set by the opponents. In the 2nd delivery of the 1st over Deccan Chargers lost their important wicket, Skipper Gilchrist was out giving a slip catch to Sachin Tendulkar. Thus pressure started to build, the runrate was very good in Deccan Chargers innings but they were loosing wickets very often. In 17.4 overs Deccan Chargers lost all their 10 wickets, thus loosing the match.

Mumbai Indians won the match by 41 runs still topping the table. They have won 5 matches out of 6 matches played in this IPL edition 3.

Rajasthan Royals continue their winning spree.....

Rajasthan Royals played another home match at Ahmedabad today against the visitors Chennai Super Kings. Rajasthan Royals won the toss & elected to bat first. Rajasthan Royals started their innings aggressively as they cruised to 100 in 11 overs just loosing 2 wickets. It was Naman Ojha who hit the ball very hard & scored 80 runs from just 49 deliveries which included 6 fours & 5 sixes. Rajasthan Royals completed their 20 overs by scoring 177 runs loosing 8 wickets.

Chennai Super Kings started to chase their target of 188, when chennai reached 24 runs, CSK's biggie Mathew Hayden got out by giving a catch to Yusuf Pathan which was caught & bowled. Opener Murali Vijay 42 from 28 balls & got out in 9th over. Thereon pressure started to bulid for CSK as the asking rate kept on increasing. At the end of 20 overs Chennai Super Kings scored 160 runs loosing 6 wickets thereby Rajasthan Royals won by 17 runs. This was the 4th successive win for Rajasthan Royals in this IPL edition 3.

Kumar Sangakkara has been banned for one match

During the last match which was played between Kolkata Knight Riders & Kings XI Punjab, Mohali team maintained a slow over rate. Due to this, today IPL has advised that Mohali have been fined for maintaining a slow over rate while playing against the Kolkata Knight Riders, they were one over lacking behind the required rate.

This is the third offence of the team in the edition, hence skipper Kumar Sangakkara has been fined with USD50,000 & each player in the team have also been fined with USD20,000. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara is also been banned from playing in the team's next match which will be played against Mumbai Indians on 30th March.

Kolkata Knight Riders won by 39 runs

Kings XI Punjab played their home match at mohali against the visitors Kolkata Knight Riders. Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss & elected to bat first.

Kolkata Knight Riders started their innings aggressively as Chris Gayle & Sourav Ganguly opened the innings for KKR. The Biggie of KKR "Chris Gayle" was out in the 3rd over, even 2nd wicket was gone in the 5th over. But the skipper was still batting & KKR's runrate did not drop at all. Sourav Ganguly & Manoj Tiwary's partnership gave a big boost to the KKR. 3rd wicket fell when Kolkata Knight Riders reached 124, it was sourav Ganguly who was out after scoring his 50th run from 40 deliveries. Meanwhile Manoj Tiwary was batting till the end & scored 75 runs from 47 balls which included 8 fours & 2 sixes. Kolkata Knight Riders after 20 overs scored a total of 183 runs with loss of 5 wickets.

Kings XI Punjab started to chase their target of 184. Ravi Bopara was out in the very second ball of the first over of Kings XI Punjab innings which was a poor start for them. Wickets started to fell regularly, players performed very moderately where the run rate was around 7.2 which made the asking rate to go up regularly. Finally Kings XI Punjab failed to chase the target ending up with a total of 144 in 20 overs loosing 6 wickets. Kolkata Knight Riders won the match by 39 runs.

CSK gains some boost as Michael Hussey will join the team

Australian players Michael Hussey and Doug Bollinger will be joining Chennai Super Kings on 1st April. As soon as the second test match gets over which is being played against New Zealand, these two will be joining CSK.

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni will definitely be happy as these duo will be joining the team. so far, Chennai Super Kings have lost four matches out of 5 matches played in this IPL season 3. Even some biggies like Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor etc., will also be playing in this IPL as soon as the second test match which is being played between New Zealand & Australia is complete. Definitely expectations will more on these players arrival to their respective IPL teams.

Yusuf Pathan shines for Rajasthan Royals to win their third consecutive match

Rajasthan Royals played their home match against the visitors Deccan Chargers on Friday. Deccan Chargers batted first, Right from the beginning of the innings till the end Deccan Chargers were loosing wickets regularly. It was Rohit Sharma who played well & scored 49 runs to put up a decent total of 148 loosing 9 wickets.

Rajasthan Royals started their chasing by an impressive start where the players played aggressively right from the beginning. Micheal Lumb was out when had scored 45 runs, later it was Yusuf Pathan who was the show stopper. He cruised very fast to score his half century in just 23 deliveries. He ended the game by hitting his eighth six being unbeaten scoring 73 runs from just 34 balls. There was 26 balls remaining when Rajasthan Royals reached their target. This was Rajasthan royals 3rd successive win in the tournament.

Royals Challengers Bangalore failed to continue their winning spree

Delhi Daredevils visited Bangalore to play a match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore today at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. Skipper Anil Kumble from RCB won the toss & put the visitors to bat first.

Delhi Daredevils gave a magnificent start as team opener, David Warner 33 runs just in 14 deliveries. Later on after loosing couple of wickets, AB de Villiers & Jadhav played brilliantly to put a good total for Delhi Daredevils. Finally Delhi Daredevils landed up with setting a target of 183.

Royal Challengers Bangalore started their innings with the openers Jacques Kallis & Manish Pandey. RCB started off very well playing aggressively until they reached 71 runs, in the 10th over, RCB lost their first wicket, Jacques Kallis. Later on things started to change, RCB started to loose wickets regularly. RCB finally landed up with a score of 166 in 20 overs loosing 9 wickets.

Delhi Daredevils won the match by 17 runs. Skipper Dinesh Karthik will be very happy about his teams performance. Previously Delhi Daredevils had lost 3 successive matches.

Mumbai Indians won by 5 wickets against CSK

Mumbai Indians played their home match against the Chennai Super Kings at Brabourne stadium. Skipper Sachin Tendulkar won the toss & elected to field first.

Chennai Super Kings lost two early wickets loosing Parthiv Patel & Mathew Hayden. But, Suresh Raina & Badrinath both played very well giving a partnership of 142 runs which gave a huge total for the CSK. Suresh Raina was unbeaten for 83 & Bardinath was also unbeaten for 55, thereby making a total of 180 in 20 overs loosing only 2 wickets.

Mumbai Indians started their innings very aggressively where Dhawan cruised to his 50 in 32 deliveries. Later on Mumbai Indians started to loose wickets but the run rate was very good. Sachin Tendulkar scored his 2nd half century in this IPL season 3, with his guidance finally Mumbai Indians reached their target by the end of 19 overs. Mumbai Indians won the match by 5 wickets.

Struggling Delhi Daredevils have a stiff challenge against RCB

Delhi Daredevils will be facing Royal Challengers Bangalore today. It will be a home match for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Delhi Daredevils are in the sixth position having 4 points on the points table. Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore have won 4 successive matches till now who top the points table with 8 points. Royal Challengers Bangalore would be looking to continue their winning momentum against a struggling Delhi Daredevils today.

RCB has a very well balanced bowling & batting sides. Jacques Kallis is in great form, who is the leading scorer in this IPL, meanwhile others include Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Mark Boucher who can bat very well. Bowlers like Praveen Kumar, Dale Steyn, Skipper Anil Kumble & Vinay Kumar are also bowling well & have been showing performances.

Coming back to Delhi Daredevils, They gave a brilliant start in the IPL - 3 by winning first 2 matches after that till now they din't even win a single match. They have lost Gautam Gambhir who has been ruled out due to injury. Sehwag has shown very good performances, he is the second top run getter in this IPL. But middle order batsmen have not yet given their good performances in this IPL.

Rajasthan Royals continue their winning spree.....

Kings XI Punjab after winning their first match in IPL season 3, they played their 5th match against Rajasthan Royals in Mohali. Kings XI Punjab won the toss & elected to field first.

Rajasthan Royals right from the start of their innings they played well, they gave a aggressive start. They completed their innings by scoring a total of 183 loosing 5 wickets with a net run rate of 9.15

King XI Punjab also gave a brilliant start with Ravi Bopara & Kumar Sangakkara, but they started to loose wickets, but they were maintaining good run rate which was enough to win against the visitors. But things went bad for Kings XI Punjab when 5th wicket fell in 13th over. Later on, the run rate dropped drastically finally by 19.1 overs, Kings XI Punjab lost all their wickets scoring a total of 152.

Rajasthan Royals won the match by 31 runs. This was their second victory in this IPL season 3 after loosing first three games.

Shahid Afridi is been selected as Pakistan Captain for World T20

Yesterday Pakistan Cricket Board named Shahid Afridi as Pakistan Cricket team captain for next month's World T20 Cup. Even Abdul Razzaq and Misbah ul Haq were also on the run for the captaincy. Shahid Afridi previously captained their team in T20 for 3 matches & won all the 3. Pakistan had won the World T20 Cup last year. This time they have announced Shahid Afridi as captain keeping in mind that he will lead his team to defend World Twenty20 title.

World T20 Cup matches will start from 30th April & ends on May 16th. Pakistan team is in A group where their group mates will be Australia & Bangladesh in World T20 which be played in West Indies this year. First match they will be playing against Bangladesh 1st of May.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Won against Chennai Super Kings

Royal Challengers Bangalore played a their home match against Chennai Super Kings of the IPL season 3 in Chinnaswamy Stadium . Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni did not play due to injury, the new captain Suresh Raina won the toss & elected to field first.

Royal Challengers Bangalore started their innings with Jaques Kallis & Manish Pandey as openers, but RCB did not do well till the 18th over until Robin Uthappa started to hit. When RCB were At 17.4 overs RCB were 123 loosing 5 wikets, in remaining 16 balls they hit 48 runs, which give a boost to their total & finally landed up with a total of 171 for 5 wickets.

Top scorer was Robin Uthappa unbeaten scoring 68 runs from 38 balls.

Chennai Super Kings started their innings with Mathew Hayden & Parthiv Patel, they lost Parthiv Patel in the first over itself. They started to loosed wickets regularly, finally they finished their innings scoring runs.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match by 36 runs. Now, RCB are back to top the ranking table leaving behind Mumbai Indians..

Mumbai Indians won the match by 7 wickets

Mumbai Indians played their home match against the visitors Kolkata Knight Riders at Brabourne stadium. Kolkata Knight Riders batted first to put a total of 155 for 3 in 20 overs. Chris Gayle smashed 75 runs, but Kolkata Knight Riders struggled to put a decent score of 155 runs in 20 overs by just loosing 3 wickets.

Chasing 155 runs, Mumbai Indians gave a aggressive start, but things went on little hectic to Mumbai Indians when they started to loose wickets & pressure was building up, But at the end Sathish made to go easy & made Mumbai Indians victorious. All the credit goes to the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar who kept his nerves right from the start of the innings of Mumbai Indians. He was unbeaten scoring 71 runs of 48 balls. Now, Mumbai Indians are back to top the points table, leaving behind Royal Challengers Bangalore.

McCullum & Vettori help NewZeland to take lead of 67 runs

New Zealand's key player Brendon McCullum scored unbeaten 94 and skipper Daniel Vettori scored 77 runs which has helped New Zealand to take a lead of 67 runs against Australia at end of fourth day play in Wellington's Basin Reserve. Due to rain the match was stopped when New Zealand were on 369 loosing 6 wickets. Only one day is left for the 1st test match to get over, New Zealand has to survive for at least 2 sessions tomorrow which will help them a lot to draw the match.

Brendon McCullum & Daniel Vettori broke the record of Stephen Fleming & Chris Cairns 6th wicket partnership of 110 runs which had been setup 10 years ago in the same stadium.

Wayne Parnell ruled out of IPL

Delhi Daredevils player Wayne Parnell has been ruled out of the rest of the IPL edition 3 because of a groin injury which occurred during warm-up. This week he will be flying back to South Africa where he will be assessed by CSA's medical team.

Delhi daredevils have already missing their captain Gautam Gambhir & pace bowler Ashish Nehra because of injury. Now they will be missing Parnell. Delhi Daredevils are in sixth position on the table, they have won only 2 matches out of 5.

Kings XI Punjab mark their first win in IPL-3

Finally Mohali team register their first win in IPL edition 3. Kings XI Punjab played their 4th IPL-3 match against Chennai Super Kings today at Chidambaram Stadium, chennai. Kings XI Punjab started to bat first, where they had put up a total score of 136 runs loosing 8 wickets. Only Yuvaraj Singh & Irfan Pathan played nicely scoring 43 & 39 respectively.

Chennai Super Kings started their chase of 137, gave a magnificient start to open the innings. Opening wicket partnership was 65 runs where almost half of the runs had been scored. Everything seems to be working well on CSK side, but it all went when Hayden (33) & Parthiv patel (57). Finally there was a situation for CSK needed just 1 run to win from 2 balls, but Pathan bowled brilliantly & took ashwin's wicket therefore levelling the score.

Finally there was a super over in this IPL, where i was so happy to watch it. I guess almost all would have were eager to watch the super over. CSK played their super over & scored 9 runs in 5 deliveries, the stat was 1 W 2 6 W. They din't play last ball as they had lost their 2 wickets. So Kings XI Punjab needed 10 off 6 deliveries, KXIP started their super over by a 6 hit hit by Jayawardhane, then loosing Jayawardhane's wicket in next delivery. Finally Yuvaraj Singh finished the match with a 4, stat was 6 W 0 4.Hence Kings XI Punjab marked their first victory in IPL-3.

Kochi & Pune are 2 new arrivals in next IPL season

Sahara Adventure Sports Group bagged Pune & Rendezvous Sports World Limited clinched Kochi to form the 2 new teams which will be added from the next season Indian Premier League. Highest bid was made for a $370 million by Sahara Adventure Sports Group followed by $333.33 million by Rendezvous Sports World Limited. So from the next edition of IPL there will be 10 teams playing in which Pune & Kochi will be the new arrivals.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Won against Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians played their home match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Brabourne Stadium. MI won the toss & elected to bat first. MI lost Sanath Jayasurya at the early stage, but Sachin tendulkar & Saurabh Tiwary had a good partnership but all went sore when Tiwary was out when MI were 71. Later on MI kept on loosing wickets in regular intervals, finally landing up with a total score of 151 for 9.

Royal Challengers Bangalore gave good start as Jacques Kallis & Manish Pandey gave a magnificent start. Finally RCB completed their target by scoring a total of 155 runs in 19.1 overs just loosing 3 wickets. Teams Top scorer was Jacques Kallis scoring a unbeaten 66 runs of 55 balls.

RCB have moved up to the 1st place in the points table & MI have dropped down to second place.

Mumbai Indians Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Mumbai Indians are playing their home match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Brabourne Stadium. Mumbai Indians won the toss & have elected to bat first.

Results on Sunday for 2 new IPL teams

Five bidders have lined up for the 2 new IPL teams for the IPL edition 4 which will be played in 2011. On Sunday morning the bids will be opened & the results will be announced by afternoon. Sources have confirmed 4 bidders (Videocon, Sahara India, the Adani Group and a Pune consortium of Cyrus Poonawala and Ajay Shirke), the fifth one is not yet confirmed, but the it is believed that it would be Jaypee Group.

Rajasthan Royals mark their first vicory in IPL-3

Rajasthan Royals played their 4th match against Kolkata Knight Riders at Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera. Rajasthan Royals won the toss & elected to bat first. Micheal Lumb was out for the very first ball of the innings. Rajasthan Royals completed their 20 overs by scoring 168 runs loosing 7 wickets.

Kolkata Knight Riders went on to chase a target of 168, But their slow start was of no use. By 18th over kolkata needed 50 runs from 14 balls, this was very tough situation for KKR as they did not succeed finally landing up with the score of 134 runs in 20 overs loosing 5 wickets. Hence Rajasthan Royals marked their first win after loosing first 3 matches in IPL-3.

Deccan Chargers won against Kings XI Punjab by 6 runs

Kings XI Punjab skipper "Kumar Sangakkara" won the toss and elected to field first against the Deccan Chargers.

Deccan Chargers gave a good start as skipper Adam Gilchrist was on fire, VVS Laxman was looking in good form but when he had scored 10 runs he had to retire hurt after injuring his fore-arm. Hyderabad kept on losing wickets at regular intervals finally landed up with a total of 170/7.

Kings XI Punajb started their 171-run chase on a low note as they lost 2 quick wickets, Manvinder Bisla was run-out and Kumar Sangakkara was out without scoring a single run in Chaminda Vaas over. Ravi Bopara scored 38 runs & Irfan Pathan played a brilliant knock by scoring 60 runs of 29 balls in which it contained 3 fours & 5 sixes to gain the confidence of their win, but it all went off when he was caught by Andrew Symonds in the first ball of 19th over. Finally KXIP ended with a total of 164 for the loss of 8 wickets completing 20 overs.

Hayden strikes brilliantly to win the match for CSK

Chennai Super Kings played their second match against Delhi Daredevils today. Delhi Daredevils won the toss & elected to bat first. They made a total of 185 for 6, where Virender Sehwag made a brilliant score of 74 from 38 balls.

CSK gave magnificent start where Mathew Hayden scored 93 from 43 balls. He got out in 14th over in Amit Mishra's ball. Later CSK skipper Suresh Raina played brilliantly to lead his team to victory by hitting a six in the first ball of 20th over.

Today, Suresh Raina had taken 3 brilliant catches & also scored 49 runs from 34 balls marking his debut as a Captain which will be a memorable win for his team.

Gambhir not playing against CSK which will be played on this friday

Delhi Daredevils skipper Gautam Gambhir will not be playing Friday's IPL match against Chennai Super Kings due to hamstring injury. He will be having couple of scans to see how bad his injury is, then only it will come to know for how long he will be out of IPL. Due to his absence Dinesh Karthik will be leading the team on Friday which will be played against CSK.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Won by ten wickets

Today Royal Challengers Bangalore played their third match against the visitors Rajasthan Royals at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore. RCB skipper won the toss & elected to field first letting the royals to bat. Rajasthan Royals gave a very slow start but they started to loose wickets, they only managed to score 92 runs loosing all 10 wickets in 19.5 overs. Praveen Kumar took a hatrick in 17th over. Anil Kumble was very impressive by taking 3 wickets only giving 9 runs in his 3.5 overs.

Later RCB started their innings with the target of only 93 runs to win in 20 overs. Both Manish Pandey & Jacques Kallis started the innings very well. In 10.4 overs RCB reached the target of 93 with no loss & got their 2nd victory in this IPL. Manish Pandey made 42 from 30 balls with 7 fours & a six. Jacques Kallis scored 44 from 34 balls with 7 fours.

RCB have won 2 matches out of 3 played till now. On the points table RCB are now at 2nd place behind MI being first.

KKR's opener Chris Gayle will be joining his team on Thursday

Kolkata Knight Rider's opener Chris Gayle will joining his side on Thursday in Ahmedabad. KKR will be playing against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday. Still Brendon McCullum who is another opener for their team is also in expectation to join once the New Zealand & Australia matches are over.

Gayle has already reached Mumbai yesterday, today he will be coming to Ahmedabad & join his team. KKR will be playing their 4th match against the Royals this Saturday.

Now, even gayle will be joining his team, KKR's team performance will be even higher than the present one according to me :-).

MS Dhoni not playing IPL for 10 days

Chennai Super Kings Skipper MS Dhoni has been ruled out from IPL for next 10 days. The reason for this is, he has been diagnosed with an elbow injury. This all happened after being hit by a bouncer which was delivered by Shane Bond while playing against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens. After being hit on the elbow, MSD continued to play & scored a 66 not out in 33 balls which layed a platform for CSK's victory of 55 run.

while keeping the stumps, MS Dhoni took a catch by diving. later in the evening he had an x-ray scan. The team management source told that MSD will not be playing for next 10 days due to injury & he is being examined by the doctors in a private hospital. But, he will be travelling with the team to Delhi where they will be playing against Daredevils at Kotla this friday. So. MSD will be missing 4 matches which will be played against DD on 19th, KXIP on 21th, RCB on 23rd & MI on 25th.

Mumbai Indians won by 98 runs against Delhi Daredevils

Hi all, Sorry i went to my home town so could not post any updates. Now i am back, so there will be regular updates on cricket.

Delhi Daredevils played their home match against the visitors "Mumbai Indians" in Kotla. Gautam Gambhir won the toss & let the MI to bat first.

Having a very good batting line-up, MI started their batting. In the second over Gautam Gambhir left the field due to injuiry. Daredevils Wicket keeper Dinesh Karthik led the time due to Gambhir's absence. However Mumbai Indians put up a total score of 218/7 due to the good batting conditions of the pitch. Sachin Tendulkar scored a remarkable 62 off 32 balls which gave impetus to their innings. Saurabh Tiwary also added a score of 61 of 37 balls to their team. Mumbai Indians put up a target of 219 for the Daredevils to win. Only Dirk Nannes of Daredevils had a good bowling figure.

Delhi Daredevils started their innings with T Dilshan & Virender Sehwag as their openers. While they were 56 for 1 in 6 overs, Dwayne Bravo took out Sehwag's wicket with his first ball in the seventh over. Later on Daredevils lost their wickets on regular basis, finally Delhi daredevils ended up at 120 in 16.3 overs. Hence, MI won by 98 runs which is a huge margin win. This was the second successive win for MI & the first defeat for Daredevils.

PCB bans Younis Khan & Mohd. Yousuf

Pakistan Cricket Board on Wednesday have put up an end to the International career to the former captains Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf from playing International Cricket for their country and they have also imposed one-year bans on Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in the wake of the team's disastrous tour of Australia. Even Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal & Shahid Afridi have been put up on probation for six months besides imposing fines between Rs 2-3 million for indiscipline on the tour.

Pakistan did not even a single match in all the three formats of the game in Australia during the recent tour which took in December-January. Younis & Yousuf had a bad influence on the team. Malik and Rana have been banned for 12 months and fined Rs 2 million each.

PCB has said that they have not put any life ban on Younis & Yousuf but they will not be a part of any Pakistan team in any format & we will not be stopping them from playing domestic cricket or county cricket here and abroad.

Bangladesh's middle order batsman Raqibul Hassan retires

It's an shock moment for me as Bangladesh's young middle order batsman Raqibul Hasan has retired from all forms of cricket. He is just 22, who made his ODI & Test debuts in 2008. He has played 41 ODI's & 7 Test matches. He is the only player from Bangladesh who has hit a triple Century in first class cricket.

He played 2 awesome knocks against England just few days ago.

Bangladesh Cricket Board director Jalal Yunus said that "This morning he wrote a letter to us telling that he is withdrawing himself from the Test series which is being played against England & also announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

DC skipper Adam Gilchrist worried over players absence

Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist said that he was a bit worried over unavailability of several members in his team.

He said that "The mood is really fantastic. But, it is a bit frustrating for us, that we have not been able to assemble or work together for consecutive number of days".

Many players in the team have not yet joined the team due to different reasons, although the IPL season gonna start within week.

On th opening day of the IPL edition 3, Deccan chargers will be playing against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai.

Former Indian Cricket Captain Kapil Dev inducted for ICC Hall of Fame

Former Indian Cricket team Captain Kapil Dev, who led India to win the World Cup in 1983 was inducted into the ICC's Hall of Fame on Tuesday. ICC President David Morgan presented a commemorative cap, in front of fellow Hall of Famer Clive Lloyd.

Kapil later said that he is proud & happy for being inducted into ICC's Hall of Fame & moreover it's amazing to think that he has been picked as one of the greats of Indian cricket.

Kapil dev started his International career in 1978 against Pakistan in Quetta in 1978. He is considered as one of the greatest pace bowlers India has produced. He has taken 434 test & 253 ODI wickets. 11-146 against Pakistan in Chennai in 1980 was his best bowling figures in a Test match. In ODI's his best bowling figures was 5-43 against Australia in the group stage of the 1983 ICC Cricket World Cup.

SRK asks public to coach his team...

Sharukh Khan has invited the public to coach his team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as he thinks there's always a way for the improvement. Just few days to go for the IPL edition 3 to start, SRK launched ‘Main Bhi Coach’ programme in association with Nokia India, keeping on mind that the people have the habit of giving suggestions.

SRK is very positive about his team's performance this time. KKR's performance was poor in last two edition of IPL. He wants peoples views & suggestions where people can send a message giving suggestions to 9664555555. Later this will be discussed with the coach as well as the team for the better performace.

Gilly sets himself a new Challenge of hitting 25 sixes

Deccan Chargers Skipper Adam Gilchrist has set himself a new challenge when playing IPL this season. This great player who is skillful batsman & wicketkeeper plans on hitting 25 sixes in this edition of IPL. Whenever Gilly hits a six, a "gift of wheels will be donated to a physically challenged child.

Amway's will fund AUD $20,000 as a donation for 50 bike conversions. Each bike will be specially customized so that it will suit rider's needs so that they can enjoy the freedom & pleasure of bike riding.

Gilly said "After the last's year's turnaround season, we are under intense pressure this time as other teams who wants to knock us off n claim the glory. We to prove everyone that it wasn't just luck when we won last year's IPL. Now my motivation level is even higher because i want as many children as possible to benefit from our success".

Dhoni says IPL is a good platform to groom future players

According to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, IPL turns out to be a good platform to find and groom talented youngsters, who might be put up into the national team. He said that we are grooming players from under-19 or the players on verge of making their debut in International cricket. Having a foreign players in limited numbers gives a chance to try out the youngsters & moreover if a foriegn player wants a place in the top eleven, they have to fight among themselves but not against the Indian stock. He is very happy of this system of having only 4 overseas player in final eleven.

He also commented about the last years IPL which took place in South Africa with the current edition of IPL. This time it will not be as tiring as last year's as we will not be travelling that much in India. We will be playing most of the matches in Chennai itself & will be enjoying much more in playing this time. Next 45 days will be a busy schedule for us & lot of pressure will be on the cricketers. His team has a well a balanced players with good batsmen & bowlers.

Dhoni said his side was a balanced one with good batsmen and bowlers.

Fast Bowler Shane Bond is all set to take part in IPL

New Zealand team's fast bowler Shane Bond will be playing in this IPL which will be starting on 12th March. New Zealand Cricket Players Association manager Heath Mills said that Shane Bond will be available in the upcoming Indian Premiere League season 3.

Al Qaeda had threatened to target the players during this IPL season, but Shane Bond, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori & Jacob Oram (if he is fit) are now more likely to participate in the IPL than when terror warning was first given. He also said that they are very confident now when compared to two weeks back. He also talked about the security strategies around the 12 venues & the host cities has shown improvement in recent days & feels that they would improve in the lade-up to the tournament.

India moves to second place in ICC ODI rankings

On Sunday ICC confirmed that Indian cricket team will finish the season ranking second in ODI cricket and will receive $75,000 for this achievement.

This was confirmed after New Zealand loosing their match against Australia by 12 runs in the second ODI that took place in Auckland on Saturday. Even if New Zealand wins all remaining 3 ODI's, it will not lead India in rating points.

India is Top in ICC Test Cricket ranking where we will be receiving $175,000 along with $75,000 for finishing 2nd in ODI ranking, the release said.

MI's team director Sekar very confident about teams good display

53 year old former bowler TA Sekar who is Mumbai Indians' team director is very confident that his team will give a good performance this time. MI did not do well in the last two seasons of the Indian Premier League. But this time, franchise would turn into an impressive display this edition riding on MI's skipper Sachin Tendulkar's good form.

He said that they have a very good side & they have worked really hard. Prior to the current camp they already had 2 camps which was in Jamnagar & Baroda. Seven to Eight Indian players will play a big role in the success of the team in this edition of the IPL.

Mumbai Indians will be starting their campaign with a home match on March 13th against IPL season 1 champions "Rajasthan Royals" at the Brabourne Stadium. Later he also praised about the team owners, Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani, for their support & interest shown towards the team.

Shoaib Akhtar : I will fight to get back into the team

Shoaib Akhtar's chances of coming back to the national team might be a big question mark. Pakistan's controversial pacer Shoaib Akhtar maintains that his international career is far from over. He said that he was surprised for not been included in the preliminary squad for the Twenty20 World Cup.

He said if you look at Australian pace bowler Brett Lee has fitness problems, even then he is into the Australian preliminary squad. Similarly, Shaun Tait despite his history of injury problems he is also in the squad.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has given justification for not picking Shoaib Akhtar in the preliminary squad by pointing out that he has hardly played any cricket since last May after playing against Australia in Dubai.

Shoaib Akhtar underwent a knee operation in England last year & despite his request, PCB refused to pay the bill for his treatment insisting, that he was not injured on national duty.

Australia wins 2nd ODI to level the series

Australia defeated New Zealand by 12 run in the 2nd ODI held at Auckland. It was a very tense match where Mitchell Johnson & Ryan Harris took seven wickets to lead the Australia to a tense victory.

Australia batted first. Mike Hussey had scored a brilliant knock registering a score of 56 runs. He shared a partnership of 101 with Cameron White(54). It was 46th over when Hussey fell, Finally Aussies managed to score a total of 273 for 7 wickets.

Rain had interrupted the match where the target was revised to 266 runs from 45 overs. New Zealand lost 6 wickets when they were 131. But from there onwards kiwis recovered & almost reached their target. But this was a nervous moment for Australia as only 13 runs was required from 11 balls. This moment broke down when Daniel Vettori walked across his stumps & he attempted to flick Harris behind square leg his stumps were rattled.

The personal battle between Scott Styris(4) & Mitchell Johnson continued, Johnson who was in fume bowled his first ball a bouncer to Styris which went over the Wicket Keeper's head. He went for 5 wides in 11th over.

The 3rd ODI will be played in Hamilton on Tuesday.

Napier Head Clash !!!!!

Hello friends, I have come up with another interesting article.

Australian player Mitchell Johnson has been fined 60% of his match fee for head butting Scott Styris’s helmet on Wednesday at McLean Park in Napier while playing their first Napier ODI match.

In the46th over of the New Zealand’s innings, there was a verbal combat between these two. Later Johnson, appeared to head butt Scott Styris's helmet.

Mitchell Johnson has been charged with a Level 2 offence according to the ICC Code of Conduct for Players. This code relates to “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players in the course of play”. However as Scott Styris was also involved in the verbal combat which led to the physical contact, even he has been fined with 15% of his match fee.

Wasim Akram suspects conspiracy against Kamran, Rana

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram feels that the match-fixing slur on Kamran Akmal and Rana Naved might just be a conspiracy.

Wasim Akram was leaving to India to take over as a bowling consultant for IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, during his departure he told reporters that he was shocked to read reports that Kamran Akmal and Rana Naved were under investigation by the PCB for match-fixing.

"I know this is not true because these players are not involved in this menace at all", he added. Later, he said "There has always been a conspiracy to link our players to this scandal to spoil the image of Pakistan cricket which is sad. In Pakistan it happens regularly and it disturbs our players a lot".

Juhi Chawla hopes that Luck would be on KKR this IPL

Bollywood diva of yesteryears has said that "The team management is working very hard both on and off the field". We are confident of doing well this time. She also added that "We just need luck".

She also said " That we are proud of Dada (Sourav Ganguly), he has the captain's luck and he is a fighting cricketer and hope he brings a shine to the team".

Juhi Chawla also regretted for not being present during the last IPL Season 2 matches.

Keeping luck factor on mind Kolkata Knight Riders have changed their black colored jerseys to purple this time.

Adam Gilchrist Very confident of winning IPL 3

Adam Gilchrist, the captain of Deccan Charges who are the defending champions has told that their team would continue its winning spree & can lift the IPL season 3 trophy.

Deccan Chargers are not going to host any matched in their home ground due to the ongoing Telangana agitation. The matches which was supposed to be played in Hyderabad has been shifted.

Flaws in the Selection process is the reason for the defeat

India's Former Olympians have blamed that the back-to-back defeats against Spain & Australia in the World Cup was mainly due to the flaws in selection process.

Aslam Sher Khan, a member of India's 1975 World Cup, feels that the selection committee must own the responsibility of the team's poor performance in the last two matches.

Ashok Kumar, who was also team-mate of Aslam said that the present defence of the national team was the weakest ever seen in the history of Indian hockey.

They also blamed Sandeep as a very weak defender who commited plenty of mistakes in yesterday's match. Sandeep had 6 penalty corners in which he had converted only one out of those.

Both Ashok Kumar and Aslam Sher Khan feel that India would struggle to finish even in the top sixth position in this World Cup.

Sachin Tendulkar & Zaheer Khan Joins MI camp

India's little master Sachin Tendulkar & Pace Bowler Zaheer Khan have joined the MI (Mumbai Indians) camp ahead of this year's IPL Season 3. Mumbai Indians had finished fifth & Seventh in the last two IPL editions. A week ago, conditioning camp of the team had started off.

Meanwhile the captain Sachin Tendulkar along with Zaheer Khan had some interactions with the Team members. They also watched the Team playing a practice match, even the team owners Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita Ambani were present.

Jacob Oram may not play in IPL Season 3

Due to knee injury New Zealand's all-rounder Jacob Oram’s participation in IPL Season 3 seems doubtful. He has earned a lucrative contract of $675,000 from CSK (Chennai Super Kings) for IPL Season 3. On Wednesday Napier series first ODI was played between New Zealand & Australia where he suffered a partial tear of the patella tendon. So this damage makes his appearance to be doubtful in IPL Season 3 as only 8 days left for the IPL to commence.

“Jacob Oram suffered a partial patella tendon tear. It is expected that Jacob will recover in three or four weeks.” said the New Zealand's team manager Dave Currie.

Indian Hockey team lost the match against Spain..

After getting defeated against Australia in their second match on Tuesday night, today India played their third world cup match against Spain. In the first half, Spain had scored 2 goals making India little difficult to cope up with spain's score. But in the second half things went even worser for India as spain added 3 more goals to make a total of 5. Meanwhile India also scored 2 goals. Finally it was Spain who were victorious defeating India.

This was a must win match for both the teams as India had lost a match against Australia & Spain had also lost a match against Pakistan.

Yuvraj Singh progresses well in fitness

Yuvaraj Singh a key player of for INDIA as well as Kings XI Punjab was suffering from injury where his ligament was torn on his left wrist in late January. Hence, he missed the 2nd Test match against Bangladesh & missed entire series against South Africa. He had gone to Australia for treatment recently.

He has resumed his competitive training this week & is getting closer to be fit. Yuvi twittered on his page today saying that after batting around 70-80 balls, he felt good about his progress towards a return to action in IPL-3.

New Zealand won 1st ODI against Australia

Australians opened their innings with a great start where Watson struck 14 in the opening over. They reached 50 in the sixth over, later on things got slower when Watson lifted Oram to deep midwicket & was a clean take from Ingram. Finally Australia managed to put up a score of 275 for 8 wickets in 50 overs.

Kiwis gave a Strong start of 75 run opening partnership from McCullum & Ingram. Later Ross Taylor gave a good knock of 70 from 71 balls to boost the confidence of Zew Zealand & Lead them into victorious path. Taylor's departure came into picture when he was caught at deep midwicket off Shane Watson which brought Australia back into the game.

But unfortunately things did not go well, as Scott Styris finished the game in 49.2 overs by hitting a six over long-off in Doug Bollinger's over. Styris was unbeaten on 49 from 34 deliveries who put up a partnership with Shane Bond for a 35-run stand.

This was the first match for Ross Taylor as an Captain as Daniel Vettori was called late due to his stiff neck. Also this was the first win against Australia from past 14 ODI's palyed against them.

Muttiah Muralitharan has announced his Retirement plans

Hello everyone, i am back with an very interesting news.

Srilanka's Ace bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan has announced his plans on Retirement from Cricket. He has planned to retire from Test cricket at the end of this year. He is one of the most prolific wicket taker in test cricket, he has taken 792 wickets in 132 test matches. He will be playing his last test match against West Indies who will be touring Srilanka in October. Two test matches will be played. Muralitharan needs only 8 wickets to make the mark of 800 wickets & become the only player to take 800 wickets in Test cricket.

Regarding ODI, he added "My future is all about playing one-dayers until the World Cup. If I am fit and good I will play until the World Cup and the World Cup will be the end of the road," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

But one thing for sure is that he will be playing in IPL season 3. So i am very eager to see his play in this IPL.

Hockey World cup 2010 : India Vs Pakistan

Hockey world cup 2010's inaugural match was played between India and Pakistan on 28th Feb, Sunday at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi.

Indians were victorious against Pakistan with a score of 4:1. It was Sandeep Singh who played brilliantly for India & scored 2 goals to lead India in the path of victory.

Sohail Abbas from Pakistan scored a goal in the second half of the match. Indians were dominant in the second half and outplayed Pakistan.

In the 27th minute Shivendra Singh converted a penalty corner to a goal to open the account for India, In the 35th minute Sandeep Singh also opened his account by scoring his first goal.

Goal stats are as shown

India 4

Shivendra Singh - 1

Sandeep Singh - 2

Prabhjot Singh -1

Pakistan 1

Sohail Abbas - 1

Finally it was Indians who became heros by defeating Pakistan with a score of 4:1 to give a good start.

Next match for India will against Australia on March 2, Tuesday at 20:35.