Category: Uncategorized

BAD LUCK

Sachin Tendulkar seems to have come into the ongoing edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) with a lot of bad luck. He has played three matches in the tournament so far and in all of them, he has been dismissed in unfortunate ways.

In the first match, his wicket was a result of misunderstanding between him and Ricky Ponting while running between the wickets, while, in the second game, the umpire gave him out leg before wicket when the ball had pitched slightly outside the leg stump.

Yesterday, Mumbai Indians took on Delhi Daredevils in their first home match and the stadium was completely filled. It was hard to find a spectator in the stadium who was not chanting Tendulkar’s name. They couldn’t wait to see their hero in action and they didn’t have to wait too long for that.

Mumbai batted first and Tendulkar was out there in action with Ricky Ponting. But, the crowd got stunned when both those players got out inside the first couple of overs.

Ponting went first. He came down the track against Irfan Pathan and tried to play across the line through midwicket. The ball took the leading edge of the bat and went to the fielder at mid off.

Tendulkar also departed on the third ball of the next over. Dinesh Karthik played a crisp off drive and the ball went to Mahela Jayawardena at mid off in no time.

Tendulkar tried to go for a quick single, but, Karthik didn’t move from his position. Before Tendulkar could return back to his crease, Mahela Jayawardena had already hit the stumps with a wonderful throw.

However, Despite Tendulkar’s early dismissal, Mumbai Indians put up a huge total of 209 on the board. Dinesh Karthik was the main contributor with the bat for them. He scored 86 off just 48 balls.

Mumbai Indians defended that total easily. They restricted the Daredevils to 165 in 20 overs and secured their second win in the tournament.

TENDULKAR KNOCKS 37

Sachin Tendulkar played a knock of 37 runs in India’s first innings on the fourth day of the third test match against Australia which was played at PCA Stadium, Mohali.

Tendulkar didn’t look in great nick while playing that knock. He struggled against the Aussie bowlers and got beaten on quite a few deliveries.

When Tendulkar came to bat, India needed some quick runs as there was not much time left in the test match. But, Tendulkar didn’t manage to do that for his team. He was looking rusty and was not timing the ball well.

He hit a few boundaries, but, he never looked to be dominating the bowlers. Also, the ball was reverse swinging at that time and Peter Siddle was bowling with a fantastic line and length. He was not giving Tendulkar any chance to free his arms.

The boundaries were not coming, but, Tendulkar didn’t throw his wicket away in frustration. He knew that he just had to play that spell of Peter Siddle carefully and thereafter, the runs would start coming quickly. So, he tried to hang in there.

When the spinners came into attack, Tendulkar slowly started to get into his groove. He hit a couple of fours and it seemed that he was ready to take the Aussie bowlers apart.

But, just before the lunch break, the Australian captain Michael Clarke brought the part time leg spinner Steven Smith into the attack and Smith dismissed Tendulkar on the very first ball of his over. That ball hit the rough and then spun sharply. There was also a bit of bounce on that delivery. Tendulkar tried to defend it, but, the ball hit his gloves and went straight into the hands of the fielder at forward short leg.

The little master faced 81 deliveries and hit 5 fours.

ANOTHER GOOD KNOCK

Sachin Tendulkar played another good knock for Mumbai on the first day of the Ranji Trophy semi final match against Services which is being played at Palam A Ground, Delhi. Sachin scored a well compiled half century and stabilised the Mumbai innings which was struggling at one point of time after losing the early wickets.

Earlier in the morning, the Mumbai captain, Ajit Agarkar, won the toss and decided that his team would bat first. Mumbai had a disastrous start and three wickets were down at only 23. The Mumbai was in a spot of bother, but, the Master blaster was still there which was good for Mumbai.

Sachin who had scored a brilliant hundred in the quarter final match looked in fine form here as well. There was a bit of help for the fast bowlers, but, Sachin looked untroubled. He showed brilliant technique and played the deliveries according to their merit. He gave respect to the good deliveries, but, he put the loose deliveries away.

He got the support of Abhishek Nayar at the other end. Both these batsmen played sensibly and tried to play just cricketing shots. They didn’t try to improvise too much.

Sachin and Nayar added 81 runs for the fourth wicket before Sachin was dismissed by Avishek Sinha at the score of 56. Sachin had hit Sinha for a six over his head on the first ball of that over. He tried to send the ball out of the park again, but, he didn’t time the ball well and ended up giving an easy catch to Nakul Verma.

Nayar put up another good partnership of 65 runs with the wicket keeper batsman Aditya Tare for the fifth wicket. Nayar got out after playing a good knock of 70 runs.

At the end of the first day’s play, the score of Mumbai was 199 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. Aditya Tare and Ajit Agarkar were not out on 26 and 17 respectively.

ENGLAND READY FOR INDIA

The second test match between India and England is going to start from tomorrow at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The England team had lost the first test match of the series by 9 wickets.

Both the teams are struggling with a few injury problems. Steven Finn has still not got 100% fit and there is a good possibility that he had to miss the second test match as well, on the other hand, the Indian fast bowler, Umesh Yadav, who was very impressive in the first test match at Ahmedabad, has also got injured and is likely to miss the second test. Ashok Dinda has been included in the team as the cover for Umesh Yadav, but, he is not likely to get a place in the XI. Ishant Sharma would get a paying opportunity if Yadav doesn’t manage to get fit before the match.

On the other hand, the England team is expected to make a few changes. Bresnan looked very ordinary in the first test match and he was the most likely to be left out of the XI. England might go with two spinners as the Wankhede track is expected to turn from the very first day. In that case, Monty Panesar might get a game. Since, Finn hasn’t managed to get fit, so, Broad will get another opportunity.

Talking to the reporters today, the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said, “Unfortunately, Umesh has injured himself and he might not be able to get fit before the match. This is obviously not good news for us as Umesh had bowled brilliantly in the first test match.”

“We will again go with the combination of two fast bowlers and two spinners. Hopefully, this would not be a low and slow wicket as the previous one.”

DEFEAT FORGOTTEN

Sachin Tendulkar has said that the defeat in the last test series against England is not in the mind of the Indian players at the moment and the team is not looking for any kind of revenge. In a TV programme, when Tendulkar was asked if India is looking for a 4-0 victory, Sachin said, “We are not thinking too much ahead at the moment. We are just focussed on the first test. There is nothing like revenge in the heads of the players.”

“It obviously is going to be a close series. I don’t think the English batsmen are weak against the spinners. They have got some real class players who can play spin well.”

When asked about the preparation of the team for the series, Sachin said, “Most of the members of the team have played in the Ranji Trophy matches recently. Thereafter, we have had a training camp in Mumbai. So, the preparation for the first test is quite good. The players are in good form and in good frame of mind at the moment.”

One of the Sachin fans asked him if he feels nervous in facing any bowler. Replying to that question, Sachin said, “No, I don’t feel nervous in facing any one. I believe that a batsman should always play the ball not the bowlers. Even the greatest of bowlers can give you lose deliveries, and, sometimes, even the part timers can get you out.”

When asked about the Order of Australia honour that Sachin has got recently, the Master blaster replied, “I am delighted to have got this honour. Australia is one of those places where I have enjoyed playing a lot. People over there love good cricket. They appreciate the good shots even if those shots come from the bat of an opposing batsman.”