A Win against Kenya ,not All for Pakistan

Venue:Hambantota.Sri Lanka.

Match: Pakistan vs Kenya

Date: 23.02.11

Pakistan team draws focus on them more for their controversy and scandal. In some recent years Pakistan have come under discussion for such affairs as are not healthy for cricket. The mysterious death of their coach,so frequent change of captain, involving of the players in match fixing, attack on cricket players in Pakistan-all these have brought very negative discussion on them.Its not that Pakistan come with talented players.But this side of bountiful cricket talents is usually overlooked in general discussion though not by their opponents.This team is a unique team for the players are waiting to make their names and not those who sells their name.This is a team of young talents.The match fixing controversy sided some veteran cricketers from the team.So the team is now a combination of the young and experienced, of flared and pragmatic.

In the last six months they have won in three different lands .In last 19 ODI they have won in 8 and lost 10 match. But what worries experts most is that they can’t finish off close game. In the matches above, they won or lost but very closely. Also in the long bilateral ODI series they produce the same inability.

Though they won the ODI series with New Zea land and defeated Bangladesh in warm up match,the lost to England by 67 run in 2nd warm up match. Kenya is not a big challenge for them. But if they wants to bring back 1992 and become champion 2nd time they must learn how to finish well and must play rightly in right time.

2011 World Cup the most expensive cricket tournament

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is going to be the most expensive cricket tournament with a proximate cost of over 100 million$ .The tournament will be co-hosted by India Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Pakistan, the fourth Test-playing nation in South Asia, was kept beyond the list of co- host nation due to security concerns.

14 countries will compete for the most prestigious cricket trophy.. In group A the defending champion Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya will play among themselves. Group B includes India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands. The nations will play 52 matches in total.

The tournament will continue for 43-days. 52 matches will be played in 13 venues of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka will host 12 matches in three venues with one quarterfinal and one semifinal match. 4 matches will be in Bangladesh. All the rest 36 matches are going to be hosted by India. The final is scheduled to be held on April 2 at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium.

India’s Final 15 Men Squad for 2011 World Cup

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the final 15 men squad. The committee has skipped middle order batsman Rohit Sharma. They have picked up off spinner R Ashwin and leg spinner Piyush Chawla, but before the selection the committee was very worried for some of the top players were in injury especially when Sachin Tendulkar got serious injury in the last one day with South Africa. At last they included Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and bowler Praveen Kumar chief selector K Srikkanth said it is a balance team and we are satisfied with the selection. We believe the team has the strength to do the thing they need to win the cup.

The final includes- MS Dhoni (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin.

Big Bazaar is the authorized dealer of Cricket World Cup 2011

ICC has appointed Big Bazaar to sell special cricket merchandise for World Cup 2011 in India as authorized dealer.

Big Bazaar is a chain of shopping mall in India. It works on the same economic model as Wal- Mart. Big Bazaar has 29 outlets in India at present. It is owned by Pantaloon Group.

Big Bazaar will deal in cricket merchandise designed for men, women and children. This cricket merchandise will be priced from Rs 199 to Rs 499. The apparels will include sports attire and accessories like active dry tees, shorts, sports tees, track pants, sweatshirt, head bands and caps, Big Bazaar will also keep a very special type of show piece which will bear cricket-inspired messages. They will also keep a type of  toy called “Stumpy” tagged with the official mascot of the ICC WC 2011.

Source: Black Friday Deals

Indian Skipper Dhoni is confident to win the World Cup Cricket 2010 title

Indian captain Mahendra Sing Dhoni has expressed his deep confidence to win the trophy of Cricket World Cup 2011.He said it’s the ultimate dream of any cricketer to lift the world cup as there won and every one of India dressing room wants to win the trophy not only for themselves but for their Billions of fans He said Team India has every possibility to win the cup .In recent times India is playing very good cricket especially meeting the demand of the situation. He is happy with the preparation of his side as they have played well, backed up each other well lately.

 He also said he knows every match will be tough and will be a fresh challenge. India will have to play to their highest potentials. It will require a lot of hard work, self belief and also a positive approach. Team India is capable of displaying all these at the highest level 

Dhoni also urged the fans and spectators to do their own parts in the tournament to make it more pleasing and successful. Hew also appealed to their fans to be a part of India team and swarm up in the stadium though India not playing.

Dhoni said during a promotional ICC event to mark the 50-day countdown celebrations of the great-event starting next month. The promotional event was held at the world famous V&A Waterfront. The World Cup trophy was put on display and an official promotional film was revealed to celebrate the arrival of the flagship of the game. ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, South Africa captain Grame Smith and Western Cape Premier Helen Zill were present in the event.

Source: Times of India

Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Vivian Richards and Arjuna Ranatunga on world cup Cricket 2011

Great cricketer Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Vivian Richards and Arjuna Ranatunga have commented freely about how to make World Cup Cricket presentation more entertaining. They proposed some new initiatives in the discussion. They talked about live match coverage by 3G mobile streaming so that the fans may get easy access to internet and mobile phone. 'Decision Review System' will be introduced in ICC tournament for the first time. ICC chief executive Haoon Lorgat said that a number of initiatives have been taken to intensify the pleasure and passion of the cricket fans. Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain said India is doing really better for recent year and have best chance to win the cup. In his opinion Sri Lanka is also another team with the caliber to win also.

Kapil Dev also opined India especially the young stars are playing very well in present times two months ahead of the tournament. They are playing meeting the demand of the situation. In his opinion the key players for India are MS Dhoni, Sachin, Sehwag, Pathan and Gambhir .Vivian Richards thinks West Indies will do better though he believes India Will reach the Final specially foe they will play at home.

Arjuna Ranatunga Believes Sri Lanka will blaze in the tournament. He says there are a lot of experienced players in the team like Kumar Sangakkra, Mahela Jayawardene, Malinga, Muralitharan .They can make any difference.

source:  india times.com

Imran Khan’s commented on Pakistan Squad: Cricket World Cup 2011

Imran Khan commented freely on Pakistan’s chance of doing better in the upcoming Cricket World Cup. In his opinion Pakistan’s chance depends mostly on the availability of Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif.  They are presently the best opening bowling pair and have the ability to make any result . Afridi is the right man to lead Pakistan in the world cup and if he can inspire the team to the triumph. Though Shoaib Akhtar is on the fag end of his career, still he can bowl his first spell like his early days. He will definitely try his best to make a high performance in ending world cup. Umar Gul is famous for his death bowling and in picking wickets especially with new ball; death bowling is a better weapon. In question of spin, Pakistan is well armed with Afridi, Rehman and Ajmal backed up by Hafeez or Shoaib Malik. There is a little bit competition between Ajmal and Rehman in the final playing eleven. Rehman is economical in the middle overs whereas Ajmal is very dependable at the death and in power plays for his doosra.

Imran says Pakistan should go with experienced players and don’t experiment too much and its very important for Pakistan. Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal are very efficient in limited over cricket but they have been missing in recent times. Mohammad Yousuf is another player perhaps to play his last world cup. He is perfect in grace and timing.Imran Khan believes if Pakistan wants a better position in the game, must depend on experienced, tried and tested hands. In recent times Razzaq has been playing greatly for Pakistan with his outstanding hitting in the closing overs. He can be very fruitful for the team .Hafeez has also improved much in recent times and doing the needful for the team both in bat and ball.

He also says it is imperative for Pakistan to get Aamir, Asif and Salman Butt cleared from match fixing riddle and make them play in the world cup.

Imran is optimistic though not over optimistic, about Pakistan.He believes Pakistan has the necessary talents and they only need the execution of it and doing every one’s best. He named a team which he believes are capable of winning the cup.

Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Younus Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Aamir, Abdur Rehman, and Mohammad Asif.

Reserves: Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Gul, Asad Shafiq

Source: Sports Encounter

Road Show of Cricket World Cup 2011 held in Dhaka

A road show marking the Cricket World Cup 2011 has been organized in Dhaka under the title “Catch Bangladesh Catch”. The rally was arranged by Dhaka Zilla Krira Sangstha. The rally started from the Dhaka National Eidgah Gate and stopped at Paltan Maidan for a formal inauguration ceremony. The rally was vibrant and colourful. Prominent figures including BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal, FCA, MP and convenor of LOC Bangladesh Dewan Shafiul Arefin Tutul were present to inaugurate the ceremony. Directors and officials of BCB.Javed Omar Belim,former Bangladeshi opener Mohammad Sharif, a paceman were also present there.

The BCB President said that Bangladesh has started suffering from cricket fever and the road show would accelerate the fever.

The road show started its journey on Monday, 20th December with a mission to cover all 64 districts of Bangladesh. The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of Cricket World Cup 2011 has taken this initiative to spread the cricket spirit nation-wide.

Source: Demotix

Cricket World Cup 2011: Knockout Matches at Home for Hosts

India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are jointly hosting Cricket World Cup 2011. If any of the teams can qualify for knockout stages they will have to play their knockout match in their own land irrespective of where they finish in group. If two host nations draw each other up to knockout stages, the team placed higher in the pre- tournament seeding will get preference. If India draws Sri Lanka in knockout stages India will play home as they were placed bettering pre tournament seeding. Sri Lanka will play India away but Bangladesh and other teams at home. If Bangladesh goes to knockout stages drawing another host nation, they will play abroad but home if they are to play with other nation in this stage.

 This rules implies that the fate of the host teams can’t be known until the last group game on March 20. The last group game will be between India and West Indies in Chennai.

Two quarter finals will be played in Mirpur, one in Ahmedabadand the forth in Colombo. If all the host nations qualify foe quarterfinals and do not draw each other they will play simply at home.

The league stage is divided into two groups with seven teams in each. Four top teams from each group will qualify for quarterfinals. India and Bangladesh are in the same group. So they are not meeting in Knockout stages. The semi finals will be played in Mohali and Colombo. Here also the hosts will get preferences to play at home.

To win Cricket World Cup Team India Needs physically fit Players

Indian greatest all-rounder world cup winning captain commented on Team India’s preparation for world cup campaign. He said what is most important for India to win world cup on their own soil is to remain 100% physically fit. He also upheld his reason. According to him Indian team has fire power in all departments from top to bottom. But winning world cup cricket is something very special. Having fire power is not enough. He says being physically and mentally fit specially the bowling players is a must if India is aspirant of winning the cup. In his opinion the bowlers are the strongest pillar for any team. He says generally the bowlers are more prone to physical injury if they have more muscles in the upper part of the body and legs are not fit enough to carry that heavier upper part. He also expresses his dissatisfaction about too much experiment in the team .He believes that the experiment with the player should be stopped least it may lead to devastating effect on the team .He also added the selectors should have clear image of those players who will represent team India better and who are physically fittest.