Women's Cricket World cup 2013

The much awaited Women World Cricket Cup began today at Brobourne Stadium ,Bombay. The inaugural match is between the mighty West Indies & India.the match is a day night one.since the beginning of Women World cup In 1973,Australia& England dominated winning in 1978,1982,1988,1997,2005 and 1973,(the first WC), 1993,2009 respectively.Newzealand was lucky to win just once in200. Thus Australia,England& Newzealand shared the 9 WCs staged so far. West Indies& India are yet to taste the sweetness of Victory. This year in 2013 though the matches are being held in India in venues at Mumbai& Cuttack,there is very rare Probability of India becoming triumphant.BUT CRICKET BEING A GLORIOUS GAME OF UNCERTAINTY ,THE RAREST POSSIBILITY OF INDIA WINNING can not be totally ruled out.in this WC Fromm India& WI,SL,AUSTRALIA,ENGLAND,NEWZEALAND,PAKISTAN & SOUTH AFRICAare also taking part devising them to 2 groups A&B There is a reason why I mention about the prospects looking good . In this very first encounter against the WI the Indian Women who had the chance to use the bat first ,West Indies allowing them to do so first after winning the Toss, scored aformidable 284 Runs for the loss of 6 wickets.The opening partnership between MGT Kamini& PG Raut extended upto 175Until the 37 th over when Raut fell LBW to Daley.However Kamini continued until she completed invaluable 100 runs. She was unfortunate to return to the Pavilion being Run out in the 43rd over.in the meantime J Goswamy & H.Kaur who had occupied crease had made yet another good score each at the same 36 runs.Goswamy made from 21 balls& H.KaurThe Indian women Raut,Kamini,Goswamy & Kaur together made 28 smashes to the fence& 3 over it Perhaps an emberassing Feature for the Indian Men's team.the final score of 286 for6 could also perhaps embeass the men who had posted Much below of this score on many a occasion.The fact remains that there is no much difference of the size of the Stadium from the Wankhedes at Mumbai .one argument that could be put forward against this is the Bowling was Different from Men&Women.This is partly true ,but didn't look that much different from the way WI BOWLED. Any how,the score of the Women after 50 overs was indeed a challenging & perhaps a match winning one. I tell this because WEST INDIES after a disastrous start had lost 2 of their openers just for 15 runs.This obviously put them on the backfoot.They might be regretting for taking fielding first. The disastrous start of West Indies did not end in the loss of 2 wickets. It continues as a night mare as they lost wickets in regular intervals& reached a stage of 165 for 8 in 37 overs. With just 13 overs & 2 tail Enders to follow,a defeat was looking at the faces of the West Indians threateningly. From here onwards ,with some effective Bowling of accurate Length in Bowling employed by the Indian women,the hands Of WI women looked as if tied without rope. The 9th wicket eventually fell at 169 in the 40 th over still needing West Indies 116 from 65 balls.this ,perhaps, Is beyond the reach of women .In the meantime the last wicket also fell at 179 awarding the Indian women the best Gift they ever had in the New year & that too in the very first match of the Tournament. Even though this could give the Women a lot of confidence & enthusiasm ,there are teams like Australia & England to negotiate until their aim of reaching the final. Despite this ,this Glorious victory is something for the Indian Cricket to remember for a long time.The men should also should learn a lesson from this.IF THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY MDT KAMINI with a century to her credit most deservingly declared as the Player of the match.The 11 fours& one six She smashed were a real treat to the eyes to watch. All the Best to the Indian women to keep up their good work.Who knows ,perhaps, they could emerge victorious in This World cup 2013 held in Mumbai( various venues) & Cuttack. SreedharanMundanat 1st February2013 West Indies after a disastrous start lost wickets regularly,none of their players reaching over 50 runs. At the moment they are 160 for the loss of 7 wickets needing yet another 125 runs from from 15 overs, the asking Rate gradually climbing to more than 8 runs per oAt this stage it seems that most of their recognized batsmen being back in Pavilion,the tail Enders meeti With the target of 285 is very remote. But as I said earlier,the game of Cricket being a glorious one with uncertainty,let us await the outcome after watching yet another 84 balls to be Bowled from which 121 runs still required by the West Indies. Now the score & prospects are narrowing with the fall of 8 th wicket with 165 on the score board. The Indian Women are sending the balls with accurate length without giving any room for the batswomen to strike. A victorious smile is being flashed in the face of the Indian Captain M.Raj who had the rarest a 100% strike rate coming to the crease as Number 8 & scoring one run from the last ball of the Indian Innings. The final score stood at 284/6. Indeed a score which should be a bit of matter of shame for men ,who are supposed to be the Stewarts of the Uncertain Game of Cricket. All the 4 scoring Women together had smashed 28 fours& 3 Sixes.yet another matter that could embarrass men. For West Indies the beginning of their innings of 50 overs does not appear to be encouraging.They had lost 2 wicke Before reaching 15 runs on the scoreboard. The match is progressing though West Indies need yet another 251 runs from 36 overs the asking rate touching 7 Per overs. The prospects for WI looks tending to a probable defeat giving India rays of hope for the coming days until 6th Feb When the Group matches of the two groups A& B would be over. The other two teams taking part in the World cup apart from,India,Westindies,Australa,England & Newzealand are Pakistan& South Africa.

England's New find All Rounder-Joe Root

In the recently concluded tour of England to India most benefitted one young cricketer of 22 years.His name is Joe Root. In his first ever international tour with England squad to India ,he was found to be , perhaps the first person in the history of cricket,to have included in all three formats viz Test,T20&Onedayer of a Nation.He did not ,however,had chance to bat or bowl in the T20 match the just one he was included in the playing eleven.But he proved that he was a good fielder in T20 also with 2 neat catches. In the other two formats he excelled with good score especially in Test when he scored 73 runs He was unfortunate to establish his root in India with a century when Piyush Chawla routed him with an excellent ball.He was playing so well that none thought he was to return to pavilion abruptly! But he had proved himself to be a player dependable in Test Cricket.He had 5 smash hitsto the fence&one over it. Similarly,in 50 over one dayer also he shined with bat&ball .He played all the 5 onedayers against India.In all he smashed the ball to the fence 19 times &once over it besides taking three catches. What else is needed for a youngster to get n recognized by his captain,coach&Selector to include him in the next tour of England to NewZealand! The England tour of NZ starts from early February sheduled to play 3eachTests,T20s&50 over onedayers. ,indeed not a welcome news for India because the first ODI would begin on 17th February 2013&the second on 20th Feb&third on 23rd Feb 2013. England &India are at the moment equal in the same ratings with 119 ratings each though India is first in the rankings as on date, The Tird ODI is scheduled to play on23rd Feb2013. In other plain&clear words,If England wins the one day series against NZ either on 20th or 23rd February the present holding of First Rank by India would cease to become non-existent, thereby throwing India back to 2nd Rank. Had India included Cheteswar Poojara in the final one dayer at Dharamsala agaist England&won the match theremthis kind of need for a shortlife &tragedy to the first rank would not have become unavoidable!! The Captain,Coach&the selectors& the players should keep this in mind to act wisely in future according to the need of the hour. SreedharanMundanat 29th January2013 18-40 Hrs(IST)

Bombay wins Domestic Ranji Trophy against Sourashtra

Bombay recorded their record win of Ranji Trophy for the 40th time.Bombay needs to be Congratulated.Wasim Jagger with his lone century in the match& Kulkarny& Agit Agarkar with 5& 4 wickets in the second innings of Sourashtra were the organizers of this handsome victory in routing Sourashtra just for a Paltry 82 in the second innings. But this Victory does not appear to have all the charms in it for the following resons. Sourahtra for the first time reached the final of the Ranji Trophy by virtue of an unbeaten 200+ in the semi final against the great Punjab from none other than the recognized batsman CHETESWAR POOJARA who batted tirelessly for more than 12 Hours at the crease. In the meantime,however,Cheteswar Poojara the newly recognized Test star was selected for one day international against the touring England Team. His technical batting by selecting deserving balls on their merit to smash to the fence over it and also leaving other balls to him alone was a peculiar feature found in a batsman after Sachin Tendulkar the all time Great of Indian cricket.He also played the Defensive shots at the right time when required. Notwithstanding,all the features mentioned above,Cheteswar Poojara was not allowed to appear bin a single match against the touriIn other words his talent was not onlywasted but resulted in the pitiable defeat to Sourashtra against Bombay in the final of Ranji as well. At least after having given chance to Rohit Sharma in a match in which he shined to take India to victory against England. Although India had won the Series Against England & luckily retained the 1st Rank in ICC RATINGS,the defeat at Dharamsala enabled England to reach the same ratings of India ie 117. Now England has hope to regain the lost rankings whereas India is at risk about fearing to loose the 1st rank in the future!!!. Had Cheteswar Poojaraa given an opportunity to play in the final onedayer at Dharamsala ,like the selectors of the final eleven did to Rohit ,perhaps INDIA could have emerged better with enhancing their rankings to 119 .England could have remained at 115. Who is responsible for this lapse?the Captain or the Coach of the Indian one day squad. Someone should answer this question. All interested in the welfare of Indian cricket should make hue& cry about this lapse by highlighting it through the sports volume of different sites& media to avoid recurrence of such matters in the future! SreedharanMundanat 29th January2013 05-10HRS(IST)

Srilankans win both T20s against Aussies one with efforts& the other Luck!

The Srilankans are indeed a good team with batsmen with courage & willpower to hit & win.this was evident from their 1st T20against Aussies. But in the 2nd tonight they were being challenged by Australia effectively when rain came to the rescue os the Lankans. Later on Australia the most unrealistic D/L METHOD Was adopted with the result arevised target of 122 in 15 overs was fixed.here Sl was lucky in the last ball When Australia needed 4 runs.the bowler Perera bowled a wide like ball from which Australia could not connect properly& could get just 2 byes. Thus the Srilankans won. In the conventional cricket when rain plays spoilsport the match used to be considered as abandoned The changes like D/w & the new Review system which amounted to nothing but not trusting the umpire in the middle are required to be scrapped as otherwise uncertain rooms are being provided to decide a match by virtue of forced decisions. Thsse system needs review now to do away with them to maintain the trust in and power of the Umpires in the middle. SreedharanMundanat 28th January 2013 21-35 hrs( IST)

5th& final encounter at Dharamsala

As expected by the weatherman& media,the match which was considered to be prestigious affair for the Britishers,finally started without any interference from the Snow. The Indians first made use of the pitch which was hosting the first ever one day International.much was expected from the Indians to win this match to keep their ratings in tact if not bettering. But much to the agony of the Indianspectators all over the world ,none of the leading batsmen apart from Suresh Raina could shine on this cold Day. But Raina kept his form in tact. Finascore posted by the Indians was a pitiable one despite having a recognized gastronomic scoring Batsmen The score of India which was a moderate 226 was easily achievable one for the Britts. But England also did not start well & in fact,was a shaky one with their finest batsmen,Cook,pietersen& Joe Root back in pavilion sooner than expected. This gave India a ray of hope to win despite a low score. But Alas!Ian Bell started ringing poitively to declare a win for England.he made an unbeaten 113 with many hits to the fence& one over it at the final stage. Eventually,they won a most deserving victory for Bell who took a lone challence successfully. The only consolation for India was of course the performance of Suresh Raina & one wicket from Ravinder Jadeja Ja who removed Joe Root with a beauty. Apart from this,the real relief for India was that She retained the 1st of ICC RANKING, though England also achieved the same ratings of 117. Now again it is a matter of concern how long this Ratings would remain alive. Very hars blow to a happy ending for the hosts& hope for the visitors for the future!! SreedharanMundanat 28th January 2013 16-02 hrs (IST)

Dhoni wins Toss at Mohali to win the Tussle

On 23rdJanuary 2013 at Mohali(India) it was an encounter between bat&ball in the severe cold conditions.England&India were ready to accept the challence Both the teams afforded priority to call the match a matter of life&Death .It was a situation of must win for England to come back into the series whereas it was India's intention to retain the regained 1st rank which they got by virtue of NZ beating the mighty SA. The severe cold conditions were favouring England as they were accustomed to similar conditions as is obvious from the smile on the face of CaptainAlistair Cook. Many veterans of world cricket opined that the Toss would be the deciding factor and the winner of the Toss should elect to take field first as the conditions favoured Pacers more than Spinners.Again Cook&co smiled! Alas!Captain Dhoni won the Toss.Unlike his usual decision to opt against the option of the majority,Dhoni decided for a change to to respect the opinion of the majority&elected to field first.And it paid the dividend at the End of the Day! After the Toss,England CaptainAlistair Cook along with his trusted partner Ian Bell arrived at the crease accepting the welcome shouts from the stands.He was smiling as usual.No tension appeared on the faces of the openers,perhaps,because the conditions prevailed suited them. The Indians on the contrary ,shivering in the cold looked small with tension on their faces of the Pacers how to cope up with the smashing nature of the England openers!The Umpires in the middle(Not in white coats as is the tradition) signalles the start. Ishant Sharma,Shami Ahmed&Bhuvanesh Kumar with ,perhaps,with unusual beating of their heartwere ready to perform warming their bowling hands well. England began steadly with Cook&Bell taking up their job in hand remarkably.Indians again shivered! Owing more to the luck of India ,Dhoni&Sharma than the swinging of the ball,Ian Bell abruptly fell with an individual score of just 10 runs in the 10th over caught by Kumar Bowled none other than the pacer Ishant Sharma.The wicket reminded me Irfan Pathan who is an equally good fast Bowler from Baroda.The score board read 37 for 1.India&Ishant Sharma overwhelmed with joy at the fall of veteran Ian Bell! Kevin Pietersen,the batting terror of England, joined his Captain in the middle much to the fear on the faces of the Indians.As expected ,KP&Cook advanced further, rather with ease, until the 32nd over when unfortunately for the Englanders their CaptainCook fell for a well earned 76 runs with 13 smashing hits to the fence. EJG Morgan joined KP who continued meanacingly with all his might.But again England was without luck favouring them when Morgan fellin the 34th over.The contribution from Morgan was just3 runs.Aswin was the striker while Yuvraj Singh ,perhaps,the best fielder for Indi, famous for his diving catches,neatly collected Morgan.The scoreboard read 138 for 3 wickets.16 overs still left England with KP in the middle had every chance of posting a huge total around 300. Samit Patel the terror batsman of England joined KP.Indians had to sweat even in the extreme cold weather.However bad luck was not leaving the guests alone.Samit Patel could score just 1 run before adding 4 runs to the total&fell by giving a return catch to Ravindra Jadeja the hero of Kochi encounter.The score card now read a less desirable 142 for 4 in the 37th over of the England innings.13 more overs were available for England.KP with his usual temperment was still capable of scoring fast to post a total beyond the reach of India.JE Root the new face in the England Team joined Pietersen.His joining KP later on proved to be a Blessing in disguise for England. Again, fate& fortune were against England as is obvious from the fall of the great Kevin Pietersen himseld to a clean swinging ball from Ishant Sharma.KP had to return reluctantly to the Pavilion. He was thus Bowled when the score card read 220 for 5 in the 46th over. 25 balls remained to be bowled in the England innings.However Pietersen had made 76 from 93 balls the identical individual score of Captain Cook.He had 7 hits to the fence&i over it. In the meantime the hero of England Joe Root was advancing very well in the company of Pietersen.On seeing the fall of KP Joe Root rose to the occasion &smashed at his will &pleasure .His final figure read 57 from 45 balls with 8 fours&1 six.This was the score which helped England to post a good score of 257 at the end for 7 wickets. Butler,Bresnen&Tredwell returned without much of a significant score at the end of the 50th over.They had 14,0&6 respectively as their individual contribution. Joe Root&Tredwell remained Not out.England's final score was a challenging score of 257 with a reasonable run rate of 5.14 per over.In the freezing weather of Mohali 257 looked like a match winning score for England. Indians after the break arrived at the crease needing 258 to win.Gautam Gambhir with his new opening partner Rohit Sharma of Bombay began well but shortlived.Of all Gautaqm Gambhir the recognised opener fell soon after in the 6th over when the scoreboard read dangerous at a paltry 20 for 1. Virat Kohli, the great expectation of India, joined Rohit in the middle.But at Mohali it was not not his day of smashing, proving the old saying"Every day is not Sunday".He fell for just for 26 runs from 33 balls with 3 hits to the fence while Rohit at the other end began shining.However, both together had taken the score to a reasonable 72 for 2 in the 17th over when Kohli fell to a return catch to Tredwell.Rays of hope appeared on the faces of England Players! Yuvraaj Singh joined Rohit.The crowd roared when they saw Yuvraj who had the reputation of hitting Stuart Broad in a single over 6 times over the fence in the T first T20 World Cup.India had won the first edition of T20 World Cup!. But here again it was not the day of Yuvi.He fell unfortunately to Tredwell again trapped in the front Pad.The score card read 90 for 3 in the 23rd over . Next to join Rohit Sharma was Suresh Raina the Hero of the day.Both Rohit Sharma&Suresh Raina took the total to a healthy 158 in the 32nd over.India had for the first time a sigh of relief.When Rohit Sharma fell at 158 on the board,he had become the second Hero of the day with an individual score of 83 from just 93 balls with 11 smashing hits to the fence&1 over the fence.A wonderful contribution from Rohit at the most appropriate time when India needed runs to retain the regained 1st Rank in ICC Rankings.He did it .Later on in the postmatch interview Dhoni said it!!The score card now read 158 for 4 in the 32nd over.18 overs &5 balls left in the Indian innings to get 100 runs.Everyone in the stadium&millions glued to TV sets began smiling anticipating a glorious win for India as Captain Dhoni joined Suresh Raina ,his trusted partner of Chennai Super Kings of the IPL.The Captains contribution was ,however, just19 from 21 balls with 2 hits to the fence.But it looked that was enough at that point of time when he fell at 213 for 5 wickets in the 40th over.45 runs were required from 65 balls at that stagefor India to win. England, now started to sweat in the cold conditions of Mohali.Ravindra Jadeja the hero of Kochi in the earlier one dayer joined Suresh Raina.Both together began playing at ease for the first time in the Indian Innings.Suresh Raina the hero of the day smashed 89 runs from 79 balls with 9 hits to the fence&i over it.Ravindra Jadeja who extended able support to the hero scored a healthy 21 from 27 balls.It was consisting of 2 fours.In the 48th over India found the target with 15 balls to spare.Thus India, not only won the series against England but retained the 1st Rank which they had gained with the help of NZ who had beaten SA on the same day of the one dayer at Kochi against England as well. Now the final onedayer is at Dhrmasala in the foothills of Himalayas where snow fall has eased &sun is coming out according to reports in the media.If this is true the scheduled match might begin on time which is a day match .At least a match of reduced overs is possible taking into account every probability as per reports.In case India could win there too then the ratings which is 120 at the moment might go ahead to a level of retaining the rank until next Word Cup in 2015.At present the ratings are India 120,England 117,Australia 113&South Africa 111. So all the Best to India&England at Dharmasala on 27th January 2013 Sunday. SreedharanMundanat 25th January 2013 17-50Hrs(IST)

Rohit in.Rahane&Poojara to rest

Rohit Sharma is a good Player.Rahane also a very good Player.He could have been in the eleven.Failing a couple of matches should not be a criterion to advice rest.Any ways,Rohit also a good player.At least he would have the satisfaction of being not kept idle without even releasing him for Ranji Final. Rahane would get or should get more chances in the future. How about the new find Poojara?He was most deserving player with his talent to play defensive as well as aggressive chosing the ball on merit.This is the most ideal nature for a batsman.He is being kept as invisible.Is he a Mr.INDIA to be be invisible&appear visible when required?If so he must find a place in the final ODI so that he wont feel that he was neither allowed to play for Inmdia or for his home team in the final of prestigeous RANJI TROPHY. Let us hope the people responsible for inclusion or omission of players in the Indian Eleven open their eyes on 27thJan 2013 at DHARMSALA! SreedharanM undanat 23rd January2013 12-02Hrs(IST)