#AsiaCup: Sri Lanka vs UAE

Asia Cup was off to a great start. Bangladesh was beaten by India in the first match of it. The second match of Asia Cup was between Sri Lanka and UAE. Malinga, Kulasekra, Mathews and Herath were back in the Sri Lankan side. Sri Lankan side was looking pretty good after their come back and was ready to defend the Asia Cup. On the other end UAE had qualified for the main tournament from the qualifiers. The qualifiers were played between UAE, Hong Kong, Afghanistan & Oman. UAE topped the table in the qualifying round by winning all the matches. Everyone was expecting Afghanistan to qualify for the main tournament but UAE turned out to be a better team in that round. Both the teams were ready for the encounter Sri Lanka was ready to defend their championship & UAE was ready to prove that they are not minnows.

It was the same green top at Mirpur. UAE won the toss and elected to bowl first. Every captain likes to bowl first on the green top. Dilshan and Chandimal opened the batting for Sri Lanka. It was tight start by UAE, they gave just 7 runs in first two overs of the innings. Then in third over, Dilshan decided to attack. He hit three boundaries in that over and brought run rate to 6 R.P.O. In fourth over, Chandimal decided to go for big and he dispatched one into the stands on the fifth ball of that over. Then he ended that over with a boundary. From 7-0 after 2 overs, they reached to 31-0 at the end of 4 overs. In fifth over, they continued to attack. Chandimal hit back to back boundaries on fourth & fifth ball of that over. After a slow start, Sri Lanka ended the power play on high. They were 49-0 after 6 overs. In eighth over, Sri Lankan openers started giving opportunities to UAE fielders but they managed to get three fours in that over.

In tenth over, Amjad Javed drew first blood. He got the wicket of Dilshan at his personal score of 27. After the wicket of Dilshan, Siriwardana joined Chandimal in the middle. Sri Lanka had changed its batting order completely. It was very unusual and unexpected batting order. First, Chandimal came out to open the innings and then Siriwardana at no. 3. Chandimal's move worked as Sri Lanka was off to a great start but Siriwardana was not able to cash in the opportunity. He got out in the similar fashion in which Dilshan got out. Sri Lanka was 79-2 at the start of twelfth over. In fourteenth over, Chandimal finished his half century. He got his 50 off 38 deliveries but immediately after that he gave a simple catch to mid wicket fielder. After that Sri Lanka just fell apart. After Chandimal, Shanaka was first one to go. In seventeenth over, Mathews followed Shanaka after making 8. Jayasuriya hit couple of boundaries but he too was knocked over after that. Sri Lanka was 113-6 in eighteenth over. Kapugedera was the next man to be dismissed. When he got out Sri Lanka was 123-7 in last over. After such a great start, Sri Lanka only managed to score 129 runs off their 20 overs.

Upset was on the cards. UAE batsmen just had to give some respect to the swing of Malinga and Kulasekara in the first few overs. Opening pair of Kaleem & Mustafa came out to chase that total. Malinga had a new ball in his hand and he struck first ball. Swinging delivery of Malinga found the pads of Mustafa. UAE 0-1. Malinga didn't stop there. He finished off that over with his trademark yorker. He disturbed the furniture of Shahzad. UAE was 7-2 at the end of first over. The start was bound to be slow but UAE had to keep wickets in hand and it was not happening for UAE. Fourth over of UAE innings began with a wicket. This time it was Kulasekara. Kaleem just threw his wicket away. He went for the big one but was not able to clear Mathews at long off. It was a simple catch for Mathews. Malinga brought two slips in place after that wicket and straight away Usman justified that move. He went down the track and edged one to first slip. UAE were in all sorts of trouble at 16-4.

Patil and Anwar added 20 odd runs for the fifth wicket. They were getting comfortable on the wicket. Seeing that, Malinga brought Herath in to the attack and Herath responded with a wicket. UAE lost its fifth wicket in eighth over. Patil was looking good at one end but there was lack of support at the other end. Patil hit a huge six in tenth over but Haider gave it away before that over ended. Then there was another partnership between Patil & Javed but it was a slower one. Required rate climbed upto 12 R.P.O. as they didn't pace the innings well. They took the score of UAE to 85 in the seventeenth over but at that total Malinga broke that partnership. UAE lost its seventh wicket. The match went out of UAE's hand. Tail enders added 30 more runs to the total & UAE finished off at 115-9. Sri Lanka won it by 14 runs. UAE gave tough fight to them. They didn't play like minnows in that match. Unfortunately their batting was not upto the mark. Two major teams got points on the board in first two matches of Asia Cup which was off to a great start.

#AsiaCup: India vs Bangladesh

Asia Cup. Asian Cricket Council (ACC) organise this tournament Biennially. Till now this tournament has been played in 50 over format but this time it will be played in twenty 20 format. It is organised just before the twenty 20 world cup. Thus, it is a preparatory tournament for Asian teams. Five Asian teams are taking part in it. India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and UAE. UAE has qualified for the main tournament by beating Afghanistan, Oman and Hong Kong in the qualifying round. All the matches are being played at Mirpur in Bangladesh. The tournament began on 24th feb, 2016 and India played Bangladesh in its opening encounter.

Mortaza won the toss on the green top in Mirpur and he elected to bowl first. Normally we don't see green tops in this part of the world but these days it is in the fashion in sub continent. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma came out to bat for India and the ball was swinging from very first delivery. Considering the movement both the batsmen decided to spend some time on the crease but in the second over Al-Amin uprooted Dhawan's off stump with an in swinging delivery. It was a rare failure for Dhawan since Australian t20I series. Sharma hit the first boundary in the same over after Dhawan's wicket. On the other end Kohli was struggling to find the middle. India was off to a poor start. In the fifth over, Kohli tried to break the shackles but ended up giving a simple catch to Mahmudullah at long off. Then Raina joined Sharma in the middle. He was struggling as well with the swing but he decided to play his shots from the sixth over itself. Raina hit couple of boundaries in that over and tried to give momentum to India.

Spin was introduced in the eighth over of the innings. Raina tried to take advantage of that but he was knocked over by Mahmudullah. Yuvraj was sent in at no. 5. Yuvraj, since his comeback had not spent much time in the middle and his form before the world cup is very crucial. In this match, he got the opportunity to spend some time in the middle and gain his confidence back. He did exactly the same. He steadied the ship with ones and twos along with Rohit Sharma. He ensured that India didn't give away any other wicket. At the of tenth over, India's score was 52-3. To win the match India needed to score 10 an over from that stage. Hence Rohit Sharma started to attack Bangladeshis. In that proccess he offered a catch at gully on the 2nd ball of the 11th over but Shakib Al Hassan didn't hold on it. Then Rohit Sharma became Raw-hit Sharma. He hit two fours and a six in that over and began his counter attack. Seeing that Yuvraj was only rotating the strike and Rohit Sharma was hitting the boundary every over. In fifteenth over, Rohit Sharma reached to his half century and was looking most comfortable on the crease.

Yuvraj also decided to go for big shots in that over and he even middled one but only managed to find Soumya Sarkar in the deep. He got out after making 15 runs off 16 balls. The partnership between him and Rohit Sharma led the foundation of the compatible total. Hardik Pandya came out to bat ahead of Dhoni then and all of the sudden that green top became batsman's paradise. Rohit Sharma's bat was producing raw hits and Hardik Pandya was playing as if he had a sword in his hands. By the end of eighteenth over, India reached to a total of 150 and that stage 170 was looking good but Mustafizur bowled a tight 19th over & it created pressure on both the batsmen. As a result Rohit Sharma got out in the last over and Hardik Pandya also threw it away. Then Dhoni dispatched last ball of the innings for a six to take India's score to 166.

In reply Soumya Sarkar and Mithun Ali came out to chase that score. It was a surprise to see Mithun Ali ahead of Imrul Kayes. Dhoni gave the new ball to Ashish Nehra as there was movement in the track. Ashish Nehra was right on the money from ball one. He was not able to take a wucket in his first over but he started his second over by knocking over Mithun Ali. Bangladesh was 9-1 after 2.2 overs. In fourth over of the innings, Bangladesh lost its second wicket on the score of 15 runs. Then there was cautious partnership between Sabbir & Kayes. They took the total to 50 run mark in tenth over of the innings. By that time required rate climbed and reached to 11 R.P.O. Kayes decided to break free. He went after Ashwin but only managed to find Yuvraj in the deep. Sabbir got his eye in and started expressing himself. He hit Pandya and Ashwin couple of huge sixes and gave some sort of hope to Bangladesh.

Required rate went over 12 after twelve overs. In thirteenth over, Shakib found himself in the middle of the pitch. He kept running after hitting the ball on the leg side. There was no response from the non striker. Dhoni took the bails off after collecting the throw from Rohit Sharma. And Bangladesh lost its fourth wicket. Required rate reached 14 R.P.O by the end of fourteenth over. Dhoni gave the ball to Hardik Pandya and Sabbir went after him but he only managed to hit one high in the air. Dhoni completed a simple catch and Bangladesh was 5 down. Mushfiqur & Mahmudullah took Bangladesh's score to 100 run mark. Mahmudullah threw his wicket away at the score of 100. After Mahmudullah, Mortaza gave a simple catch to Jadeja at gully and Ashish Nehra was on a hat-trick. He missed the hat-trick but India won the match comfortably. Bangladesh managed to score 121 runs of their 20 overs. They lost the match by 45 runs and India started the Asia Cup with a win.

Music by Baz

There are different types of music around the world. There is rock music, there is jazz, indipop, bollywood, caribbean music. Each and every part of the world has its own kind of music but there is one more type of music which noone knows. This type of music is produced on a cricket field. This music is created when a ball meets the bat. When a ball meets the bat a simple sound 'tak' is produced. And that simple sound 'tak' brings whole world on its feet. When a ball meets the middle of a bat, a perfect 'tak' comes out. After hearing that perfect 'tak', whole world roars. People starts cheering, dancing & express their agony. That kind of power that simple sound 'tak' posses.

In this type of music consistency is the key to success. The musician (batsman) has to produce perfect 'tak' consistently over the period of 10-15 years to be considered as one of the greats. There were some great musicians (batsmen) around the world who has produced the perfect 'tak' consistently in the past. There are some great musicians (batsmen) in this era as well who are still producing the perfect 'tak' consistently. One of them is Brendon McCullum. He is also known as 'Baz'. McCullum made his debut in ODIs against Australia in Sydney in 2002. It was a deceptive debut in ODIs as he scored only 5 runs.

He made his debut as an opener but he was pushed down the order due to his poor form with the bat. Baz was pretty good with gloves behind the wickets but in front of the wickets with the bat he took some time to get his original touch. He got his maiden half century in his 29th ODI in 2003. In 2004, Baz made his test debut against South Africa and his test debut wasn't as deceptive as his ODI debut. He made 57 in that match to show that he has the potential with bat as well. In the same year, Baz got his first century in international cricket. McCullum scored 143 in a test match against Bangladesh in Dhaka. In 2005, we got the glimpses of the real fearless Brendon McCullum when he smashed 25 ball 50 against Australia batting at no. 9.

In 2007 world cup, Baz smashed 20 ball 50 against Canada batting at no. 7. It was an announcement of the arrival of one of greatest hitters of the game. In 2008 he became the captain of New Zealand's t20 side then he struck gold in IPL's inaugural acution. On his IPL debut, Baz brought chinnaswamy on its feet. In the first match of IPL, he came out to bat with Ganguly for KKR and gave IPL the most sensational start. He scored 158 off just 73 balls hitting the ball all over the park. After that, McCullum finally got his first century in ODI cricket against Ireland. He got that in his 134th ODI. It was bit late but it is not easy to hit a century batting at no. 7, 8 or 9. Soon after that in 2009, he hit his second century in ODIs against Pakistan.

In 2010, McCullum got his first T20I century. He became the second batsman in the world to score a century in T20I. In 2012, Baz slammed another T20I hundred against Bangladesh in WT20. After that he took the reigns of New Zealand from Ross Taylor. He became the captain of New Zealand in all three formats. In 2014, he was in form of his life. During that time, India played two test matches in New Zealand and in that series, he scored 224 in the first innings of the first test. While in the secind innings of the second test he scored 302 & saved the test match. He is the only kiwi batsman who has scored a triple hundred in a test innings. In november 2014, he scored another double hundred against Pakistan along with 195 against Sri Lanka.

He took that form to 50 over world cup in 2015 which was played in Australia and New Zealand. It was the best phase for McCullum in ODI cricket. He slammed 18 ball 50, 21 ball 50, 19 ball 42 & 22 ball 50 in that tournament. He scored 328 runs at the strike rate of 188.5. He was leading his team as fearlessly as he was batting in that world cup. He had only one strategy in mind during that world cup 'attack attack attack' and that strategy took his team to the final. In December 2015, he gave the biggest shock to us by announcing his retirement from international cricket. Today, he is playing his last test and in that he has scored the fastest century in test cricket. He slammed a 54 ball 100 against Australia this morning and made his last test match memorable. He is the first player to play 100 consecutive tests from debut.

Not only he is a great batsman but he is a live wire in the field as well. It is not his form that has forced him to retire. It is his body which has forced him to do that. He is the one of the most fearless and destructive batsman of this era and he has produced that sound 'tak' perfectly & consistently through out his career. Whenever he bats, I always hear that crunching 'tak' from his bat and the next moment I see the ball sailing over the fence. He has produced great music with his bat over the years. Cricket fraternity is going to miss him. He will play domestic cricket for few more years and I am sure he is going to play some more memorable knocks. So don't think you will not hear Baz's music again. You will hear that music but not as frequently as you used to.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

**Image credits:
http://www.cricages.com/wp-content/uploads/mccullumlq9.jpg
http://www.skynewssport.com.au/cricket-news-display/mccullum-dismissed-for-the-final-time/4415
http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-world-twenty20-2012/content/story/583223.html
http://9cric.com/new-zealand-vs-india-series-statistical-highlights-brendon-mccullum-will-play-225th-odi-4000-taylor-eyes-odi-runs/
Official twitter account of ICC (@icc)

An Impactful Chase

It was a third T20I between India and Australia at SCG. It was last match of the series. India had already won the series 2-0 and was looking for a whitewash. On the other end Australia was not in a mood of giving it away. Australia won the toss and opted to bat first. Batting first Australia put on 197 runs on the board with the help of Watson's unbeaten century. On any given pitch 180 is considered to be a winning total in T20s and Australia had scored 197 runs on that Sydney pitch. It is difficult to chase such a huge total on an Australian pitch but considering India's batting that total was chasable. The only thing to worry for India was that it was going to expose its middle order.

Rohit Sharma & Shikhar Dhawan came out to face Tait. Rohit Sharma was watchful in the first over but from the second over itself both batsmen were cruising towards the target. In the third over of the innings, Tait conceded 24 runs. It cleared India's intent. In the fourth over captain Watson brought himself into the attack and straight away he took the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan. Dhawan made 26 runs off 8 deliveries. Dhawan's cameo laid the foundation of the historic chase. Then Kohli joined Rohit Sharma in middle and both of them carried on from there. They carried on in the same fashion in which Shikhar Dhawan was playing. They maintained the run-rate of 12 runs per over in the powerplay.

After 6 overs India was 74/1. Then Cameron Boyce was brought into the attack. Where Australian pacers had no answer to Kohli and Sharma's counter attack, Boyce was not allowing them to free their arms. As a result run rate came down to 10 per over. India's 100 came up in the 10th over and by that time both the players were set to play the big innings. Rohit Sharma brought up his fifty in 12th over. In 13th over, Boyce was brought back into the attack and immediately he brought Australia back into the match by taking the wicket of Rohit Sharma. After the wicket of Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina's stumping was missed by the keeper in the same over. Boyce was bowling some awesome line and length.

Virat Kohli brought up his 50 in 15th over and immediately after his 50 Boyce knocked him over. Next man in was Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj was making a comeback into the side. So he was bit nervous. On the other end Raina was also panicking a bit. India's middle order was exposed at the most critical stage of the match. Both the batsmen were having tough time in the middle. As a result India rechead to a stage where it needed 22 runs were required off last 2 overs. Watson came on to bowl second last over. He bowled very tight line and conceded only 5 runs in that over. Yuvraj Singh played four deliveries of that over and scored only four runs. People started criticising him on social media. People started talking about his knock against Sri Lanka in the final of #WT20.

17 runs were required off the final over. Tye was given the ball to bowl that last over. Tye bowled a length ball first up and Yuvraj dispatched it for a four. Second ball, Tye missed yorker length and Yuvraj dispatched it over deep midwicket for a six. Yuvraj was back. Suddenly, people who were trolling him started praising him. People had forgotten what kind of player he is! And he just showed them the glimpses of vitage Yuvraj. On the third ball, Raina took a bye. Then the equation was down to 6 runs off 3 balls. Raina took four runs of next two deliveries. Hence 2 runs were required off the last ball. Tye under pressure bowled a full toss and Raina dispatched it for a four. India won the match by seven wickets and whitewashed Aussies on their homeland.

Impact of the chase was such that India moved on to the first position from eighth in t20 rankings and experts declared India as one of the favorites to win the #WT20 in march.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

***Image Credits: Images used in this blogpost are taken from the official twitter accounts of ICC, BCCI & Star Sports
1. @ICC: https://twitter.com/ICC/status/693757901890949120
2. @StarSportsIndia: https://twitter.com/StarSportsIndia/status/693781048186925056
3. @BCCI: https://twitter.com/BCCI/status/693769156521545728

The Fantastico Innings

On 23rd January 2016, a 26 year old boy named Manish Pandey came out to bat for India at no. 4 in the last ODI of the 5 match series against Australia. It was on India's pride as India had lost all the matches in the series. When he came out to bat, India had already lost two in form batsmen Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli. India was chasing huge total of 330 at SCG and with the wicket of Virat Kohli, India started to loose the momentum. India needed a partnership to stay in the match. Rohit Sharma was batting well at the one end and he just needed the support from the other end.

Manish Pandey was sent in at no. 4 because Ajinkya Rahane got injured in previous match. When he was taking his guard, India's score was 134/2 in 21st over. He took 8 to 10 deliveries to get in. At that time Rohit Sharma was finding the boundaries at regular intervals. Manish Pandey got his eye in, then he was complementing Rohit Sharma pretty well. He was not taking any risk. He was taking 1s and 2s on good deliveries and was dispatching bad deliveries to the boundary. The important thing for him was to bat through the innings. He built a much needed partnership with Rohit Sharma.

India reached to the total of 231 in 35th over when Rohit Sharma got out. Rohit Sharma was dismissed on 99. By that time Manish Pandey was stroking the ball. Soon after Rohit Sharma's wicket, Manish Pandey brought up his fifty. He had target in his mind so he was striking the ball at strike rate of 115 to 120. On the other end Dhoni was playing at the strike rate of 30. While Dhoni was busy playing dot balls, Manish Pandey was finding the boundaries regularly to release the pressure. In the end required run-rate reached almost 12 runs per over. 35 runs were needed off last 3 overs.

Dhoni still was not finding the middle. It was Manish Pandey's swift running between the wickets which helped India to keep up with the required rate. The equation came down to 12 off last over. At that time Manish Pandey was batting in 90s. Dhoni finally launched one over long off for a six. It was the first ball of the last over. Dhoni took lot of pressure off Manish Pandey but immediately after hitting the six Dhoni got out. Then the equation was 6 runs off 4 balls. Manish Pandey was on 98. Mitchell Marsh bowled one wide outside the off stump and Manish Pandey sliced it for a boundary. Pandey got to his maiden ODI century in style. The equation came down to 2 runs from 3 balls. Steve Smith brought all the fielders in the circle but Manish Pandey hit one over the mid off and got the winning runs. In this way Manish Pandey guided India to record breaking victory in Australia. It was a fantastico innings by Pandey. He will remember it all of his life.

***Images used in this blogpost are from official twitter accounts of ICC & Firstpost.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

#WT20 2016

ICC World Twenty 20 2016 was launched in Mumbai on 10th of December. Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane & Shikhar Dhawan were present in that event. ICC launched the logo and announced the schedule in that event. Last ICC event happened in India was 50 over world cup in 2011. After 5 years ICC is back in India with the World Twenty 20. ICC World Twenty 20 will be played across 8 venues. Dharamsala, Mohali, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, Bangaluru & Chennai. All these venues are high scoring. So it is expected to be a run fest. The event will start from 8th March 2016.

ICC World Twenty 20 will start with a qualifying round. In qualifying round no. 9 & no. 10 team according to ICC T20 rankings will play along with the associate nations who has qualified for this tournament. From qualifying round two teams will join top 8 international teams in super 10. Super 10 will begin from March 15 where top 10 teams of the world will begin their fight for the ultimate glory. After super 10 there will be semi finals and a final. In Super 10, ten teams are divided into two groups and India & Pakistan are in the same group. India vs Pakistan will be played in Dharamsala on 19th March.

Australia and New Zealand are the other two teams in group 2 along with India and Pakistan. While in group 1 there are Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and England. In each group one team will join other teams from the qualifying round. The schedule is well designed and the venues are smartly selected. All the teams have started preparing for it. Each and every team is trying different combinations in different departments to get the winning one. In March every team will land in India with their best players in the business. As I said earlier it is expected to be a run fest.

As it is going to be played in India, India is considered to be one of the favourites to win it. I think out of the top eight teams, four teams are outright favourites to win it. I am not going to talk about those four teams now because I am going to cover the whole world cup on this blog. So as we will get closer to it I will talk about those favorites. I know I was not able to cover whole #CWC15 or all Delhi Daredevils matches in 2015 as I made some mistakes during those tournaments. This time I am not going to repeat those mistakes again and the whole #WT20 2016 will be on this blog. I am pretty excited for #Wt20 2016? Are you?

Cricket with the Pink ball

First day night test is over and Australia won it by 3 wickets. Mitchell Starc bowled the first delivery with the pink ball in that match. Lot of new things happened in that match. For the first time test cricket was played under lights. For the first time international cricket was played with the pink ball. For the first time we witneesed dinner break in the cricket. For the first time we experienced players playing in whites under lights. Lastly, for the first time we witnessed that more than 40000 people are watching test match on the ground. Last first timer is jaw dropping one for the organisers and sponsors.

I think test cricket will be in pink of its health with this pink ball. We have received the response from people of Australia towards day night tests. They just loved it. Now I think it should be tried and tested in other parts of the world as well. It should be tried in every country in which test cricket is played. I am sure it will receive thumbs up from the spectators in each and every test playing nation. I think people will love to go to stadium in the evening after coming back from the work. After stressful day at office people will love to relax and enjoy the game of cricket for couple of hours.

Day night matches with the pink ball is the best way to revive test cricket. One thing I observed in the first day night test is that the pink ball is harder than the red or the white ball. You can feel its hardness when it connects with the bat. Lot of research and development has been done on the pink ball. From its shape to the colour of its stiches everything has been tested. So its hardness will also be considered as more matches will be played with it. Cricket boards of all test playing nations should start working towards day night test matches. They should start testing it in their respective countries so that we can quickly switch to day night tests.

At the moment BCCI is not supporting day night test cricket but I am sure after seeing its response in Australia it will start supporting it. And this is the only feasible option at the moment to revive test cricket. I am eagerly waiting for the second day night test then a day night test in India then a day night test here in Ahmedabad. So that I can sit back and enjoy test cricket in the stadium after coming back from office in the evening. I am waiting for those days & I hope those days will come soon.