IND vs ENG:Honour shared in nail biting encounter

The fully packed M.Chinnaswamy stadium experienced an epic game tonight.The group match between India and England ended on a tie.The high scoring game cumulated 676 runs at the cost of 18 wickets .The match has every thing starting from masterclass batting from Sachin,dramatic collapse of Indian tail, anchored knock from English captain Strauss,Zaheer's dream comback spell and finally fireworks by the england tail.Dhoni opted to play Chawla in this game ahead of Sreesanth.England picked another spinner Yardy and Sehzad inplace of injured Stuart Broad. After winning the toss,Dhoni decided to bat on this sporty wicket.The pitch assited batsmans and there is a little help to bowlers on this pitch. Anderson produced some brilliant deliveries at the start but Sehwag survived. Sachin played another master class innings of 120 off 115 balls.He resistered his 47th ODI ton.It was also his 5th world cup century. Yuvi was promoted up the order and made a half century.INDIA suffered a late collapse by Tim Bresnan and scoring rate was slowed down.INDIA bundled out for 338 with one ball to play.India lost last 7 wickets within just 25 runs. Bresnan took 5 for 48.Strauss led the mammoth run chase from the front. He played one of his finest knock. Strauss and KP added 68 runs for the 1st wicket. KP fell to Munaf after scoring 31. Trott pinned LBW by Chawla shortly. Ian Bell survived a controversial LBW shout and briged a much needed partnership with Strauss.They were unstoppable and inching toward victory.Strauss scored a fine innings of 158 runs. But batting powerplay changed the momentum of the game. Zaheer was devastating on his comeback spell. He dismissed both Bell and Strauss on two successive deliveries and India backed into the game.Strauss caught infront of wicket by a beautiful yorker. Indian bowlers pressurised the english middle order and got the wickets of Collingwood,Prior and Yardy.At a time it seemed that India had snached the game away from England.England needed 29 off 2 overs. Bresnan and Swann hit 1 six each of 49th over bowled by Chawla.14 runs required at the final over and with a six from Sehzad England managed to score 13 runs.Depth of England batting saved the game for them. Strauss named man of the match award for his brilliant knock.

WC:Pak derails Srilanka

Who says Pakistan is not a contender of the world cup.Pakistan proved itself as a dangerous team.Good batting from Misbah and Veteran Yunis khan and fabulous bowling of Afridi and Akthar won the match for Pakistan.At the packed house of R Premadasa stadium,colombo pak won the toss and elected to bat.Sehzad and Hafeez gave pak a rapid start,but suddenly the runrate slowed down.But Misbah and Yunis played planned executed innings.Yunis made 72 before mishitting to fine leg.Misbah started slowly but made 83 notout.SL seamers are tottally flawless.But Murali bowled really well at the batting power play giving just 4 runs off 2 overs.Pak posted a defendable total of 277/7. In the chase Srilanka was little slow.Akthar was at his best bowling at 145 kmph.Tharanga drived to Afridi off Hafeez after scoring 33.Dilshan made 41.Shahid Afridi produced another brilliant figure of 4/34.Chamara Silva started slowly but at a time he threatened to take the match away,but he was trapped and stumped by Rehman after making 57.Kulashekhra thrashed some good shots but they were just 11 runs short the target.

World Cup:Round One Review

After tonight's Bangladesh vs Ireland encounter the Round 1 of WC ended.Every team has atleast played a match.Starting from INDIA,it has opened its WC campaign in style.Shewag and Kohli sparked for India.Sachin in good touch.Batting line up is balanced.Zaheer and Munaf bowled well.Bhajji showed his relibility.It does not seem INDIA has a problem.It will be interesting to see whether Dhoni pick Piyush or Nehra at the typical spin- friendly Bengaluru pitch.PROTEAS,my favorite No. 2 played aganist WI and earned a easy win.Imran Tahir, the debutant leggie bowled really well and got figure 10-1-41-4.Smith opened the bowling with Johan Botha and played with 5 specialist spinners.Amla and Kallis got out quickly but AB scored a ton.AB was struggling aganist India but he was batting agressively at Delhi.SA really a strong contender of WC.Australia thrashed the Kiwis by 7 wickets today.Oz,the only team relying on seamer heavily.The trio of Lee-Tait-Johnson was out standing.Kreja untested against tough opponents.Openers striking well but the Aussies WC dream mostly depend upon their ability to play aganist quality spin.West Indies has performed poorly.They have not a balanced side.They mainly rely on their batsmans to score big as their bowling has no much variation.The Blackcaps are not set yet and they are a average side this time.Bangladesh beat the Irish team tonight.Netherlands played really well aganists England but lack of experience cost them. Pakistan,Srilanka and England has played aganist weaker teams,so we have to wait for some days for their potentials.

INDIA Thrashed Bangladesh:A convincing Start

In the opening encounter of WC team INDIA defeated B'desh by 87 runs.India took the revenge of last world cup loss. India defeated Bangladesh at all departments. India piled a huge total of 370 for 4 in stipulated 50 overs. The 'Nawab of Najafgarh' scored a mammoth 175 runs. Earlier a confusion between SRT and Viru costs Sachin's wicket,but Sehwag was unstoppable.Mainly after getting his ton he was devastating.Kohli played a brilliant knock.It was also his world cup debut.This well made ton means Raina has to wait for his turn.Sakib, the Bangla skipper opted to field first at the Mirpur pitch due to its previous record,but the decision backfires.The left arm spin,which is the main weapon of B'desh attack seemed totally effectless.VIRU and KOHLI thrashed the Bangla seamers as well as slow bowlers.Out field was slow and the pitch was little bit of spongy where the ball was not coming to bat.But Shewag improvised his shots with cool head and played an excellent innings.INDIA played 3 seamers but Sree was completely out of colour.Although bowling under lights was not easy there,but he was bowling too short.Munaf bowled on the stump line and prized with 4 wickets.Zaheer and Bhaji used there experience.As their was almost no assistance to seamers B 'desh scored a good total. Tamim,Kayes and Sakib played well.It will be a warning to other teams which will play against B'desh about their home advantage.Stroke players will have to improvise here.It will be interesting to see stroke players like KP,AB,Gayle batting aganist Bangladesh.