Reliving India's T20 World Cup Triumph

          After having one of the worst nightmares in the form of the 50-over World Cup in 2007, the Indian Cricket Team had a golden chance of silencing its critics 6 months later. The 9th edition of ICC World Cup was held in West Indies in March-April, 2007. Other teams in India's group were Bangladesh, Bermuda and Sri Lanka and there was no need for the fans to think twice whether India would reach the next stage ot not. But what happened next was totally unexpected and unbelievable. India made an early exit from the tournament as it could win just one match in the group stage and that too against Bermuda. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka handed over easy defeats to India. Fans were disappointed and at the same time, angry and the players faced harsh criticism. But no matter what, the emotional Indian fans would never stop supporting their team. And then came the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup which was hosted by South Africa in September. It was a young Indian side because the seniors, as they said, dropped themselves to give chance to new players.

          There were 3 teams in each group and this time India got its arch rival Pakistan, along with Scotland. India's first match against Scotland was abandoned due to rain. Then the world witnessed an epic match between India and Pakistan which will be remembered for a long time to come. Chasing a target of 141 set by India, Pakistan also ended up with the same score and the match had to be decided through bowl-out, which India won 3-0.

          India cleared the group stage to enter in the Super Eight where it had to face tough opponents like New Zealand, England and South Africa. In order to qualify for semi-finals, a team needed to register two wins from three matches and India lost its first Super Eight match to New Zealand. Now India had to win every match to progress in tournament. On 19th September, India faced England. This match can be tagged as the most entertaining match of all time. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir showed some quick scoring as they put up 136 runs for the opening stand. But the first name that comes to mind when this match is discussed was still to come, Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj not just scored the fastest fifty in an official T20 international, but became the 4th cricketer in all official forms of Cricket and the first in T20 to hit 6 sixes in an over. Stuart Broad was the bowler. A few exchanged words between Andrew Flintoff and Yuvraj were also seen just before the 36-run over started.  India (218-4) defeated England (200-6) by 18 runs. South Africa was the last team to play India in the Super Eight.

          The in-form team of South Africa was being seen as a threat to India's advancement in the tournament. But a comfortable 37-run win by India ensured its place in the semi finals. Posting a total of 153 runs batting first, India's Rohit Sharma, making his debut, top scored with an unbeaten 50 of 40 balls. RP Singh made sure that South African batsmen do not even reach near the target as he picked up 4 wickets for just 13 runs in his 4 overs.

India had entered the semi-finals and an exciting contest was lined up as it had Australia on the other end.  There was nervousness all around. Once again with the heroics of Yuvraj Singh, India posted a huge total of 188 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. With the help of 5 fours and 5 sixes, Yuvraj made 70 runs from just 30 balls. He also hit the longest six (119 m) of the tournament off Brett Lee's bowling. India had given a tough target to the Aussies, but they could not take a team lightly which had names like Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds. Australia required 189 runs to make it to the final. The pick of the Indian bowlers was S. Sreesanth who sent both the openers back to the pavillion in a similar fashion. He broke Gilchrist's stumps, who managed only 22 runs and later did the same to Hayden (62) who scored maximum for his team. Andrew Symonds then tried to put up a fight by scoring a quick 26 ball-43 runs but was removed by Irfan Pathan. The target was looking more and more out of reach for the Aussies. Indians had started celebrating and when 20 runs were needed off the last ball, Harbhajan Singh was seen doing bhangra on the boundary. India had won a spot in the final of the T20 World Cup as it sent Australia 

back home after winning by 15 runs.

          After some splendid performances in the tournament, India reached the final of the T20 World Cup. And there could not be anything better than facing Pakistan for the grand event. Pakistan have  not been able to beat India in an official World Cup match till date. It was 24th September, 2007 at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, the same ground where India lost the World Cup final to Australia in 2003.

          India won the toss and elected to bat first. Virender Sehwag's injury in the semi-final led to the inclusion of Yusuf Pathan, who was playing his debut match. Yusuf hit a huge six in the first over bowled by Mohammad Asif but could not put up a big score and was out for 15. It was Gautam Gambhir who stood up and decided to go after the Pakistan bowlers as he scored a helpful 75 runs off 54 balls. Other than him, Rohit Sharma added 30 runs from 16 balls. India could not set a huge total on a batsman-friendly pitch. They ended up scoring 157 runs for the loss of 5 wickets.

          Pakistan needed 158 runs from 120 balls to win the championship. Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Nazir were all set to start off the innings and for India, RP Singh had the new ball. On the 5th delivery, the ball took an outside edge of Hafeez's bat and went straight into the hands of Robin Uthappa who was waiting at the slip. Next over was given to Sreesanth who was hit for 21 runs by Imran Nazir. Pakistan were off to a good start with 25 runs on the scorecard in 2 overs. No. 3 batsman Kamran Akmal faced 4 deliveries and lost his off stump to RP Singh without scoring. Sreesanth came back strongly with a maiden over. Imran Nazir was on fire as he had hit 33 runs from just 14 balls before a sharp direct hit by Robin Uthappa in 6th over removed him. Joginder Sharma was the first change bowler for India and he struck in the 9th over. Younis Khan (24) who tried a huge shot could not connect well and ended up giving a simple catch to Yusuf Pathan. The two batsman in the middle were the Pakistan captain, Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq.

At the end of 11th over, Pakistan had put up 76 runs and lost 4 wickets. It was still anybody's match. But Irfan Pathan who bowled the 12th over, turned the game in India's favor by picking up 2 crucial wickets. First, he had Shoaib Malik caught on mid-wicket for just 8 and then sent the big hitter, Shahid Afridi back to the pavilion who faced just one ball. Misbah and Yasir Arafat tried to steady things for Pakistan but on the last ball of the 16th over, Irfan struck once again by shattering Arafat's stumps and completing an excellent spell.

Pakistan required 54 more from just 24 balls. Harbhajan Singh was given the 17th over to get his yorkers right but couldn't do much as Misbah went wild after him by hitting 3 huge sixes and keeping Pakistan's hopes alive. The next over bowled by Sreesanth saw 15 runs coming before he bowled Sohail Tanvir (12). 20 runs were needed from 12 balls for Pakistan and India were just 2 wickets away. RP Singh had to bowl a tight 19th over and he did. He gave India one more wicket as he ended the match for Umar Gul (0). The match was down to the last over in which Pakistan had to hit 13 more runs and India wanted just one wicket to win. The Indian captain, MS Dhoni had two options- either the experienced Harbhajan Singh or the new boy Joginder Sharma. And the new captain shocked everyone as he called up Joginder Sharma to bowl the final over. 

Joginder ran in to deliver the first ball and bowled a wide. Misbah missed the next one and then with 12 needed from 5, Joginder bowled a full-toss to which Misbah responded quickly and sent the ball into the stands with a huge hit. Pakistan were just one hit away and they had 4 more balls to do so. But what happened next was something which no one would have expected. Misbah tried to clear short fine-leg by shuffling across the off stump and playing a scoop shot, but all he could manage was giving his wicket away as Sreesanth took a simple catch under high pressure. 

India had won the Inaugural T20 World Cup. Celebrations and fireworks started as soon as the Indian players and fans realized what had happened. This was a hard fought victory for the Indian team which was not expected to win when the tournament commenced. Irfan Pathan was awarded the Man of the Match for his match-winning spell of 4 overs in which he conceded just 16 runs and picked up 3 crucial wickets. Shahid Afridi was declared the Man of the Series. And India had successfully found a new captain in Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

RCB wins a close contest

     Royal Challengers Bangalore got back to winning ways and a step closer to a place in the Pepsi Indian Premier League 2013 Play-Offs with a thrilling four run victory over the Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi on 10^th May, 2013.

Virat Kohli plays a pull shot

        RCB were led by their captain, Virat Kohli, who scored a brilliant 58-ball 99before Jaidev Unadkat’s five-wicket haul sealed the match for visitors. Chasing 184, Mahela Jayawardene hit consecutive boundaries off Moises Henriques in the second over, before he hit two more off Ravi Rampaul. Unadkat got the initial breakthrough as Jayawardene (19) dragged him back onto his stumps. Virender Sehwag, who scored 18, dispatched Vinay Kumar for three successive boundaries before Unadkat deceived him with a slower delivery and had him caught by Cheteshwar Pujara at mid-on.

        Unmukt Chand pulled Henriques for a six before David Warner (4) smashed him for a boundary. However the bowler came back strongly to breach through Warner’s defense to castle him. Syed Mohammad’s first over went for 20 runs as Chand and Ben Rohrer picked up four boundaries. At the halfway stage, DD were 88 for 3, still needing 96 runs.

        Vinay Kumar sent back Rohrer (32) bowled off an inside edge leaving DD four down in the 15^th over. Needing 61 from 30 balls, Unadkar struck twice to have Chand (41) and Kedar Jadhav (8) caught in the deep. Delhi came back strongly as Vinay Kumar’s 18^th over went for 17 runs as Irfan Pathan and Morne Morkel picked up three boundaries from it. Pathan then hit two sixes off Rampaul leaving DD needing 19 from 6 balls. Despite a couple of blows from Morkel (19) and Irfan (23*), DD fell four runs short.

        Earlier, DD won the toss and elected to field. DD struck early as Pathan had the dangerous Chris Gayle (4) play onto his stumps. Morkel then had Kohli caught behind but much to his dismay, it was off a no-ball. Siddharth Kaul was hit for two boundaries, before he struck timber to send back Pujara (17). Kohli was given another chance when he was dropped on 14 by Sehwag off Kaul.

        Shahbaz Nadeem got DD their third wicket as he caught Henriques (26) off his own bowling. AB de Villiers launched Morkel into the crowd before Kohli smashed two boundaries in the 17^th over. RCB then took apart Umesh Yadav for 24 runs, with three massive sixes. de Villiers (32*) at his improvising best swept Kaul for two boundaries before Kohli (99) slammed a couple of sixes and boundaries, taking 23 from the last over. The RCB skipper unfortunately was run out off the final delivery to become the first man to be run out on 99 in IPL. RCB finished their 20 overs at 183 for four. Jaidev Unadkat was adjudged the Man of the Match.

Delhi Daredevils register their 2^nd win

            Delhi Daredevils won the ‘Battle of Minnows’ as they defeated Pune Warriors India by 15 runs in a Pepsi Indian Premier League match on 29^th April, 2013 at Shahid Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, which is the second home ground for DD. This was Daredevils’ second win in nine matches and they climbed a place higher from their last spot to be placed eighth in the nine-team table. The win also technically kept them in the hunt for a place in the knock-outs. The Warriors, who have had an equally disastrous campaign, now languish at the bottom after their seventh defeat.

            Winning the toss, Pune decided to chase and put Delhi into bat first. DD put up a good total of 164 for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs with David Warner assaulting the Pune Warriors’ bowlers in a brutal fashion as he scored an unbeaten 51 in just 25 balls. Warner along with Kedar Jadhav (25 from 19 balls) added 63 runs for the fifth wicket. Warner hit 4 fours and 4 huge sixes with 21 runs coming off the penultimate over bowled by Kane Richardson.  In fact, three of his four sixes were hit off Richardson. The last five overs yielded 63 runs. Warner, who is Daredevils’ highest scorer in the league scored his third half century despite coming in to bat at number four.

            The skipper Mahela Jayawardene (12) failed yet again but Virender Sehwag was watchful during the Powerplay overs before he opened up. Sehwag hit 2 fours and 2 sixes and just when it looked that the opener is getting into the groove for a big score, he failed to read a slower bouncer from Dinda as he committed early to a pull shot to be caught by Robin Uthappa behind the stumps. Sehwag made 28 from 26 balls. Unmukt Chand, drafted in place of Manpreet Juneja could add only 17 to the total after facing 19 deliveries before Rahul Sharma got him caught behind. Ben Rohrer (13) was caught by Uthappa to complete his third catch of the match off Abhishek Nayar’s bowling. Irfan Pathan struck a four off the only ball that he got to play.

            Needing 165 to win, Warriors could manage only 149 for four despite a 76-run opening partnership between Aaron Finch (37) and Uthappa (37). At the halfway stage, Warriors had knocked off 75 runs before Irfan provided with twin strikes in the 11^th over. Pathan got Uthappa caught at deep backward square leg with Chand taking a fine catch and four deliveries later, made Finch to get a faint edge down the leg-side which was collected by Jadhav. Yuvraj Singh and Luke Wright added 50 runs in 6 overs before both got out in quick seccession to change the course of the match. Umesh Yadav bowled a brilliant 18^th over in which he dismissed Yuvraj for 31 and Wright for 19, giving away just 2 runs. DD won by 15 runs and David Warner was declared the Man of the Match.

If Sachin is God, Gayle is Godzilla

        Chris Gayle smashed all the way to reach a milestone of scoring the fastest century in any form of Cricket in just 30 balls in the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Pune Warriors India on Tuesday in Bangalore. Gayle scored an unbeaten 175 in just 66 balls with 17 massive sixes and 13 fours and helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to reach 263 in 20 overs.

            Of the 30 balls that Gayle faced, 7 were dot balls. 4 singles, 8 fours and 11 sixes. By the time he reached his century, 98 of Gayle’s runs had come in boundaries (8 boundaries and 11 sixes). For the record, he consumed 23 balls to reach 150 from 100, which was the slowest of the three fifties, giving a fair indication of what he actually did to the clueless bowlers. Barring Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Luke Wright, none of the bowlers were spared by Gayle, with Ali Murtaza and Mitchell Marsh going for 45 and 56 runs in two and three overs respectively. Aaron Finch was smashed 29 runs in the only over that he bowled. Gayle’s strike rate at the end of the innings was a staggering 265.15. Earlier, the record for the fastest century in IPL was held by Yusuf Pathan off 37 balls. Pakistan’s explosive batsman Shahid Afridi holds the record of fastest international century in the 50-over format (37 balls) and South African Richard Levi (45 balls) has made the quickest international T20 hundred. Gayle reached the milestone by hitting Dinda for a six on the fifth ball of the ninth over. Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan (33 from 36 balls) added 167 runs for the opening partnership in which 127 were contributed by Gayle. Even as there was no stopping the Gayle-storm, AB de Villiers made 31 off just 8 balls.

            Gayle’s 30-ball century eclipsed the 34-ball hundred scored by Australian Andrew Symonds for Kent against Middlesex in 2004. The left-hander also posted the highest individual score in a Twenty20 game, going past New Zealander Brendon McCullum’s 158.

            It was an unbelievable innings played by one-man demolition army Chris Gayle that smashed a whole lot of T20 records.

·         Highest individual score in T20: Chris Gayle, 175 not out

·         Highest team total: Royal Challengers Bangalore, 263

·         Most number of sixes hit by an individual: Chris Gayle, 17

·         Fastest 100 in T20 (also in any format of Cricket): Chris Gayle, 30 balls

·         Highest opening wicket stand in T20: Chris Gayle (127) and Tillakartne Dilkshan (33), 167 runs

·         First batsman to hit 150 sixes in IPL: Chris Gayle

·         Longest six in IPL: Chris Gayle, 119 meters

CSK postpone DD’s winning plans

Chennai Super Kings(CSK) handed over a massive defeat to Delhi Daredevils(DD) in Pepsi Indian Premier League match number twenty four on Thursday, 18th April,2013 at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. DD after being down 0-5 this season were looking to register their first win against CSK but faced a comprehensive defeat of 86 runs. Chennai has now won three out of the five matches it has played and currently holds the fourth position in the points table while Delhi, the only team with zero points stands last.

            Winning the toss, Chennai elected to bat first and managed to put up a decent total of 169-4 with Michael Hussey as the top scorer(65 off 50 balls). Hussey hit six fours and two sixes during his innings and remained unbeaten. Morne Morkel provided DD the first breakthrough as he trapped Murali Vijay leg before wicket on the third ball of the fifth over. Vijay scored 18 runs off 13 balls with three boundaries.  Then came in Suresh Raina who scored 30 runs from 32 balls and had a 60-run partnership with Hussey before Irfan Pathan got him caught behind in the 13^th over.


The Super Kings celebrate Virender Sehwag's wicket

            CSK were in a comfortable position with the score of 90-2 in 12.5 overs when the skipper of the men in yellow walked out to the middle. Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a brilliant cameo as he hammered 44 runs off 23 balls to ensure that CSK post a strong total. He smashed five fours and a six during his knock and added 74 runs off 40 balls with Hussey for the third wicket. Dhoni, looking to send the ball in the crowd in nineteenth over being bowled by Umesh Yadav, could not connect well and was caught by Jeevan Mendis at deep square-leg. Dwayne Bravo came in at number five, scored 3 runs and ran himself out on the last ball of the innings.

            DD required 170 runs from 20 overs and out came the openers, David Warner and Virender Sehwag. Sehwag showed a spark in the first over as he smashed one out of the park for six runs. Playing his second match, medium pacer Mohit Sharma struck on the third delivery of second over as he got the ball to take the inside edge of Warner’s bat and shatter the stumps. Warner faced four balls to score one run. Second breakthrough came in the same over as Manpreet Juneja(2 runs from 3 balls) was out lbw to Sharma. Mahela Jayawardene, the DD skipper was next to come in and also the next to return to the dugout as his struggle to get runs continued. He could add only 6 runs to the total from 11 balls. Sehwag could not convert a good start into a big innings. He put a full stop to all the hopes as he mistimed a ball delivery from Sharma and became his third victim. With one six and a four to his name, he managed only 17 runs from 13 balls. A few spectators decided to leave after this wicket.

            Jeevan Mendis and Kedar Jadhav were trying to put up a fight but the target was looking more and more out of reach. In the eleventh over, Mendis found himself run out due to poor communication between the two batsmen. Irfan Pathan was the new man in and the last hope for DD too but in an attempt to clear long-on, he ended up giving an easy catch to Bravo in the deep. Pathan disappointed the Delhi crowd with only 2 runs to his name. Right after this dismissal, the stands which were over crowded at the start of the play, suddenly seemed to be half empty. The Daredevils registered their lowest ever score after being all out for 83 runs in 17.3 overs.

            Michael Hussey was adjudged the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 65. With this victory, Chennai became the first team to win fifty IPL matches. Delhi became the second team after Deccan Chargers to have lost forty games or more in IPL.

India prevail over Pakistan in a nail biter

            The 3^rd and the last one-day international between India and Pakistan played on 6^th January, 2013 in New Delhi finally gave the Indian supporters a reason to celebrate. In a low scoring game, India(167 all out) beat Pakistan(157 all out) by 10 runs to prevent a white wash in the 3 match series. 

            Pakistan defeated India in the previous two ODIs and were all set to clean sweep the series. India won the toss and decided to bat first but the poor batting form continued as they managed a total of only 167 runs from 43.4 overs. Due to lack of form, Virender Sehwag had been dropped from the playing eleven and Ajinkya Rahane was selected as Gautam Gambhir’s new opening partner. But he could not prove his worth as he added only 4 runs while Gambhir made 15. The out of form Virat Kohli also struggled and returned to the pavilion with 7 runs to his name. The man who scored the highest for India was yet again the skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He scored 36 runs from 55 balls and also hit 3 huge sixes. Apart from him, Yuvraj Singh(23), Suresh Raina(31) and Ravindra Jadeja(27) tried to show some fight. All the Pakistan bowlers had a good outing but Saeed Ajmal had a great one with a 5-wicket haul to his name conceding only 24 runs from 9.4 overs that he bowled.



Bhuvaneshwar Kumar took 2 early wickets

            Pakistan needed 168 runs from 300 balls. Indian fans had no hope of a win but they still decided to stay back in the stadium, maybe just wishing for some magic to happen. Mohammad Hafeez suffered a hand injury while fielding in the first innings and thus Kamran Akmal came out to open along with Nasir Jamshed. The new star of India Bhuvaneshwar Kumar struck in the third over of the innings when he dismissed Kamran Akmal for a golden duck. A few overs later, he also sent Younis Khan back just for 6 runs. Before this match Nasir Jamshed had played 3 ODIs against India and scored a century in each. But this time, R Ashwin did not allow him to go beyond 34. Captain Misbah-ul-Haq held onto his nerve and stood firmly at one end but wickets kept falling from the other. The debutant medium pacer Shami Ahmed proved to be extremely effective as he sent down 4 maidens out of the 9 overs that he bowled and got a wicket as well. Jadeja kept it tight as he gave just 19 runs from his 10 overs for one wicket. Ishant Sharma took 3 crucial wickets and bowled India to a hard fought contest. Pakistan were all out for 157 runs in 48.5 overs and India won by 10 runs.  MS Dhoni was adjudged the Man of the Match, Nasir Jamshed was declared the Man of the Series and Pakistan won the series 2-1.

Irfan Pathan

Most dynamic career ever seen in India Cricket



Irfan celebrating his hat-trick

          Born on 27^th October, 1984 in Baroda, Gujarat, Irfan Pathan is the best all-rounder India has produced after Kapil Dev. He comes from a humble background. His father, Mehmood Pathan was a muezzin in a Mosque of Baroda. Irfan, along with his brother Yusuf Pathan grew up playing Cricket in the backyard of the Mosque. The financial condition of the family was very weak but still, seeing his sons’ love and passion for the game, Mehmood Pathan somehow managed to send them to Baroda Sports Complex.

            Irfan made it to the U-19 Indian Team and was very successful during the U-19 Asia Cup in Pakistan where he was the highest wicket taker in the tournament and bagged the ‘Man of the Series’ award as well. In a match against Bangladesh, he took 9 wickets for just 16 runs and made a world record. It was only after this tour that he started gaining popularity and everyone expected him to be in the main team soon. As per the expectations, he got a call from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and was touring Australia. At the age of just 19, he made his international debut against Australia in a Test match in December 2003. His career started off in an unbelievable manner and he reached heights. He became the spearhead of the Indian pace attack in no time and completed his 100 one-day international wickets in just 59 matches. Irfan was also named the ‘Emerging Player of the Year’ by ICC in 2004. The youngster possessed batting abilities as well. In January 2006, he registered another world record when the 3^rd Test match between India and Pakistan commenced in Karachi. In the very first over of the match, Irfan took an unbelievable hat-trick. Everything was going a bit more than amazing for the left arm pacer until the former India coach Gregg Chappell interfered with his career. In an attempt to convert him into a pure all-rounder, Chappell promoted him up the batting order. As a result, Irfan’s bowling performances drastically went down. He lost his swing, a bit of pace and gradually lost his place in the team. He became the first ever player to be sent back home in the middle of a series due to lack of form when India was touring South Africa.

            Making his way back in the team for the inaugural T-20 World Cup in 2007, he played a crucial role in India’s victory. He bagged 10 wickets from 7 matches and was even declared the Man of the Match in the final against Pakistan where he took 3 important wickets conceding only 16 runs.

            In 2008, an unfortunate back injury led to his exclusion from the team. A dip in his form was also seen before the injury. From here on, it was just his bad luck which was active. But he has always been a fighter and he proved it as well. Many doubted whether Irfan would ever be seen in the India colors again or not but he was never ready to quit. He fought off all the injuries plus his bad luck and finally made a remarkable comeback into the Indian Team in December 2011 after almost two and a half years. In fact, he struck with the first delivery in his comeback match and sent Lendl Simmons, the West Indies opener back to the pavilion.

            In the recently concluded Indian tour of Sri Lanka, Irfan was not named in the original squad. But an injury to Vinay Kumar gave him an opportunity which he grabbed with both hands. Irfan ended up as the highest wicket taker in the series with 8 wickets in the 5 ODIs and 3 wickets in the only T-20. He also played two useful knocks with the bat which helped the team, earned two back to back ‘Man of the Match’ awards and India won the ODI series 4-1 and also the single T-20 match. India had a poor outing in the T-20 World Cup 2012 as they couldn’t even reach semi finals but Irfan performed decently.

            So far, his career has not been less than a roller coaster ride with so many ups & downs. But it is his patience & ability to fight back which has always kept him going. The Indian skipper MS Dhoni has always favored a fast-bowling all-rounder & wants Irfan to take the responsibility. Now it will be interesting to see whether Irfan lives up to the expectations of the team or not.