A Sweet Revenge-Yuvraaj Singh begins with a Bang

As a matter of a sweet revenge to the recent debacle in Test Series against England,Yuvrajsingh began the T20 matches last night at Pune with a Bang! In Cricket there is a term "ALL ROUNDER" since the inception of cricket.In naming anyone as an All Rounder the criterion was that he should have proficiency in Batting,Balling&Fielding. But now, after the introduction of the 2 more versions of Cricket ,it would appear , ,the All Rounder status should be afforded only after taking into consideration the proficiency of a player not only in the 3 Departments of the Game but in the 3versi- ons,simultaneously with the departments, as well.If such a criterion is adopted by way of amendment to the rules of Cricket,perhaps there would be very few AllRounders in the World Cricket today &Yuvraaj Singh would get the first rank by virtue of hitting 6 Sixes in an over from Steward Broad of England in the very first T20 World Cup won by India under the Captaincy of M.S.Dhoni. In the first of the T20 matches against England in the current series, England started pretty well with the opening partnership between MJLumb&A.D.Hales until score reached 21 in just 3 overs.But Aswin trapped Lumb in front for a favourable decision ofLBW from the Umpire.Luke Wright joined Hales in the middle.They continued well with a good run rate until England reached 89 in the 11th over.Then came the first Bang from Yuvraaj Singh when he removed Luke Wright for 34 runs well caught by Rahane.score 89/2.Then came the second Bang from Yuvraajsingh when he bowled Hales for 56 runs ie just after an addition of just 10 runs at 99/3 in the 13th over. The third& final Bang came from Yuvraaj singh while England added just one run at 100/4 in the 13th over.This later on ,happened to be the Turning point of the game in favour of India. England, continued their innings strongly until they reached the 19th over when Dinda dismissed the dangerous Samit Patel for 24 again caught by Rahane.The score 138/5.The 3rd,7th,18th &20th overs helped England to reach a challenging score of 157/6, In the meantime Dinda had dismissed Bresnan for a duck caught by Kohli when the score was 139/6 JC.Buttler ,the man in gloves for England, did a good job with 33 runs (not out) with 3 sixes over the fence takingEngland to their final tally of 157/6 India needing 158 runs from 20 overs had a very good beginning from Gautam Gambhir& Rahane.Gambhir did hit a few to the fence&Rahane over the fence.Gambhir made 16& Rahane 19 whwn the first wicket of Gambhir fell at 42.Rahane followedv Gambhir soon after at 44.The score 44/2. This brought Virat Kohli&Yuvraaj together for some time.During this period Kohli made 21from 17 balls&Yuvaraj 38 from 21 balls. Yuvraaj was the first to return to pavilion but before going back he had his praiseworthy contribution of 3 sixes&2 fours.Kohli was not far behingd Yuvaraaj.He had made 2 fours. Yuvaraaj had fell at 93/3&Kohli 110/4 in the 10th&13th overs respectively. India needed yet another48 runs to win. Dhoni&Raina came together .Raina made 26 from 19 balls with 2 good hits one over the fence &the other to the fence.Raina had lost his wicket at 148/5 in the 17th over. Dhoni who assesed the situation well had made24 runs while reaching the target from 21 balls with 2 hits to the fence. Thus when they completed the honourable victory in the first match many fear whether England could react positively with a win for them in the nest match or concede defeat to the Hosts. The victory with more than 2 0vers to spare&the form of the players especially Yuvraaj Singh shoulkd be taken as an indication of something happening to India in their favour! In any case the match at Pune in which the first World Champion beating the Current Champions was indeed a treat to the eyes of many at Pune&those glued to TV sets all over India&abroad. The next encounter is scheduled for 22nd December night.