Shahid Afridi is been selected as Pakistan Captain for World T20

Yesterday Pakistan Cricket Board named Shahid Afridi as Pakistan Cricket team captain for next month's World T20 Cup. Even Abdul Razzaq and Misbah ul Haq were also on the run for the captaincy. Shahid Afridi previously captained their team in T20 for 3 matches & won all the 3. Pakistan had won the World T20 Cup last year. This time they have announced Shahid Afridi as captain keeping in mind that he will lead his team to defend World Twenty20 title.

World T20 Cup matches will start from 30th April & ends on May 16th. Pakistan team is in A group where their group mates will be Australia & Bangladesh in World T20 which be played in West Indies this year. First match they will be playing against Bangladesh 1st of May.

PCB bans Younis Khan & Mohd. Yousuf

Pakistan Cricket Board on Wednesday have put up an end to the International career to the former captains Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf from playing International Cricket for their country and they have also imposed one-year bans on Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in the wake of the team's disastrous tour of Australia. Even Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal & Shahid Afridi have been put up on probation for six months besides imposing fines between Rs 2-3 million for indiscipline on the tour.

Pakistan did not even a single match in all the three formats of the game in Australia during the recent tour which took in December-January. Younis & Yousuf had a bad influence on the team. Malik and Rana have been banned for 12 months and fined Rs 2 million each.

PCB has said that they have not put any life ban on Younis & Yousuf but they will not be a part of any Pakistan team in any format & we will not be stopping them from playing domestic cricket or county cricket here and abroad.

Bangladesh's middle order batsman Raqibul Hassan retires

It's an shock moment for me as Bangladesh's young middle order batsman Raqibul Hasan has retired from all forms of cricket. He is just 22, who made his ODI & Test debuts in 2008. He has played 41 ODI's & 7 Test matches. He is the only player from Bangladesh who has hit a triple Century in first class cricket.

He played 2 awesome knocks against England just few days ago.

Bangladesh Cricket Board director Jalal Yunus said that "This morning he wrote a letter to us telling that he is withdrawing himself from the Test series which is being played against England & also announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

DC skipper Adam Gilchrist worried over players absence

Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist said that he was a bit worried over unavailability of several members in his team.

He said that "The mood is really fantastic. But, it is a bit frustrating for us, that we have not been able to assemble or work together for consecutive number of days".

Many players in the team have not yet joined the team due to different reasons, although the IPL season gonna start within week.

On th opening day of the IPL edition 3, Deccan chargers will be playing against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai.

Former Indian Cricket Captain Kapil Dev inducted for ICC Hall of Fame

Former Indian Cricket team Captain Kapil Dev, who led India to win the World Cup in 1983 was inducted into the ICC's Hall of Fame on Tuesday. ICC President David Morgan presented a commemorative cap, in front of fellow Hall of Famer Clive Lloyd.

Kapil later said that he is proud & happy for being inducted into ICC's Hall of Fame & moreover it's amazing to think that he has been picked as one of the greats of Indian cricket.

Kapil dev started his International career in 1978 against Pakistan in Quetta in 1978. He is considered as one of the greatest pace bowlers India has produced. He has taken 434 test & 253 ODI wickets. 11-146 against Pakistan in Chennai in 1980 was his best bowling figures in a Test match. In ODI's his best bowling figures was 5-43 against Australia in the group stage of the 1983 ICC Cricket World Cup.

SRK asks public to coach his team...

Sharukh Khan has invited the public to coach his team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as he thinks there's always a way for the improvement. Just few days to go for the IPL edition 3 to start, SRK launched ‘Main Bhi Coach’ programme in association with Nokia India, keeping on mind that the people have the habit of giving suggestions.

SRK is very positive about his team's performance this time. KKR's performance was poor in last two edition of IPL. He wants peoples views & suggestions where people can send a message giving suggestions to 9664555555. Later this will be discussed with the coach as well as the team for the better performace.

Gilly sets himself a new Challenge of hitting 25 sixes

Deccan Chargers Skipper Adam Gilchrist has set himself a new challenge when playing IPL this season. This great player who is skillful batsman & wicketkeeper plans on hitting 25 sixes in this edition of IPL. Whenever Gilly hits a six, a "gift of wheels will be donated to a physically challenged child.

Amway's will fund AUD $20,000 as a donation for 50 bike conversions. Each bike will be specially customized so that it will suit rider's needs so that they can enjoy the freedom & pleasure of bike riding.

Gilly said "After the last's year's turnaround season, we are under intense pressure this time as other teams who wants to knock us off n claim the glory. We to prove everyone that it wasn't just luck when we won last year's IPL. Now my motivation level is even higher because i want as many children as possible to benefit from our success".

Dhoni says IPL is a good platform to groom future players

According to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, IPL turns out to be a good platform to find and groom talented youngsters, who might be put up into the national team. He said that we are grooming players from under-19 or the players on verge of making their debut in International cricket. Having a foreign players in limited numbers gives a chance to try out the youngsters & moreover if a foriegn player wants a place in the top eleven, they have to fight among themselves but not against the Indian stock. He is very happy of this system of having only 4 overseas player in final eleven.

He also commented about the last years IPL which took place in South Africa with the current edition of IPL. This time it will not be as tiring as last year's as we will not be travelling that much in India. We will be playing most of the matches in Chennai itself & will be enjoying much more in playing this time. Next 45 days will be a busy schedule for us & lot of pressure will be on the cricketers. His team has a well a balanced players with good batsmen & bowlers.

Dhoni said his side was a balanced one with good batsmen and bowlers.

India moves to second place in ICC ODI rankings

On Sunday ICC confirmed that Indian cricket team will finish the season ranking second in ODI cricket and will receive $75,000 for this achievement.

This was confirmed after New Zealand loosing their match against Australia by 12 runs in the second ODI that took place in Auckland on Saturday. Even if New Zealand wins all remaining 3 ODI's, it will not lead India in rating points.

India is Top in ICC Test Cricket ranking where we will be receiving $175,000 along with $75,000 for finishing 2nd in ODI ranking, the release said.

MI's team director Sekar very confident about teams good display

53 year old former bowler TA Sekar who is Mumbai Indians' team director is very confident that his team will give a good performance this time. MI did not do well in the last two seasons of the Indian Premier League. But this time, franchise would turn into an impressive display this edition riding on MI's skipper Sachin Tendulkar's good form.

He said that they have a very good side & they have worked really hard. Prior to the current camp they already had 2 camps which was in Jamnagar & Baroda. Seven to Eight Indian players will play a big role in the success of the team in this edition of the IPL.

Mumbai Indians will be starting their campaign with a home match on March 13th against IPL season 1 champions "Rajasthan Royals" at the Brabourne Stadium. Later he also praised about the team owners, Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani, for their support & interest shown towards the team.

Shoaib Akhtar : I will fight to get back into the team

Shoaib Akhtar's chances of coming back to the national team might be a big question mark. Pakistan's controversial pacer Shoaib Akhtar maintains that his international career is far from over. He said that he was surprised for not been included in the preliminary squad for the Twenty20 World Cup.

He said if you look at Australian pace bowler Brett Lee has fitness problems, even then he is into the Australian preliminary squad. Similarly, Shaun Tait despite his history of injury problems he is also in the squad.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has given justification for not picking Shoaib Akhtar in the preliminary squad by pointing out that he has hardly played any cricket since last May after playing against Australia in Dubai.

Shoaib Akhtar underwent a knee operation in England last year & despite his request, PCB refused to pay the bill for his treatment insisting, that he was not injured on national duty.

Australia wins 2nd ODI to level the series

Australia defeated New Zealand by 12 run in the 2nd ODI held at Auckland. It was a very tense match where Mitchell Johnson & Ryan Harris took seven wickets to lead the Australia to a tense victory.

Australia batted first. Mike Hussey had scored a brilliant knock registering a score of 56 runs. He shared a partnership of 101 with Cameron White(54). It was 46th over when Hussey fell, Finally Aussies managed to score a total of 273 for 7 wickets.

Rain had interrupted the match where the target was revised to 266 runs from 45 overs. New Zealand lost 6 wickets when they were 131. But from there onwards kiwis recovered & almost reached their target. But this was a nervous moment for Australia as only 13 runs was required from 11 balls. This moment broke down when Daniel Vettori walked across his stumps & he attempted to flick Harris behind square leg his stumps were rattled.

The personal battle between Scott Styris(4) & Mitchell Johnson continued, Johnson who was in fume bowled his first ball a bouncer to Styris which went over the Wicket Keeper's head. He went for 5 wides in 11th over.

The 3rd ODI will be played in Hamilton on Tuesday.

Napier Head Clash !!!!!

Hello friends, I have come up with another interesting article.

Australian player Mitchell Johnson has been fined 60% of his match fee for head butting Scott Styris’s helmet on Wednesday at McLean Park in Napier while playing their first Napier ODI match.

In the46th over of the New Zealand’s innings, there was a verbal combat between these two. Later Johnson, appeared to head butt Scott Styris's helmet.

Mitchell Johnson has been charged with a Level 2 offence according to the ICC Code of Conduct for Players. This code relates to “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players in the course of play”. However as Scott Styris was also involved in the verbal combat which led to the physical contact, even he has been fined with 15% of his match fee.

Wasim Akram suspects conspiracy against Kamran, Rana

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram feels that the match-fixing slur on Kamran Akmal and Rana Naved might just be a conspiracy.

Wasim Akram was leaving to India to take over as a bowling consultant for IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, during his departure he told reporters that he was shocked to read reports that Kamran Akmal and Rana Naved were under investigation by the PCB for match-fixing.

"I know this is not true because these players are not involved in this menace at all", he added. Later, he said "There has always been a conspiracy to link our players to this scandal to spoil the image of Pakistan cricket which is sad. In Pakistan it happens regularly and it disturbs our players a lot".

Juhi Chawla hopes that Luck would be on KKR this IPL

Bollywood diva of yesteryears has said that "The team management is working very hard both on and off the field". We are confident of doing well this time. She also added that "We just need luck".

She also said " That we are proud of Dada (Sourav Ganguly), he has the captain's luck and he is a fighting cricketer and hope he brings a shine to the team".

Juhi Chawla also regretted for not being present during the last IPL Season 2 matches.

Keeping luck factor on mind Kolkata Knight Riders have changed their black colored jerseys to purple this time.

Adam Gilchrist Very confident of winning IPL 3

Adam Gilchrist, the captain of Deccan Charges who are the defending champions has told that their team would continue its winning spree & can lift the IPL season 3 trophy.

Deccan Chargers are not going to host any matched in their home ground due to the ongoing Telangana agitation. The matches which was supposed to be played in Hyderabad has been shifted.

Sachin Tendulkar & Zaheer Khan Joins MI camp

India's little master Sachin Tendulkar & Pace Bowler Zaheer Khan have joined the MI (Mumbai Indians) camp ahead of this year's IPL Season 3. Mumbai Indians had finished fifth & Seventh in the last two IPL editions. A week ago, conditioning camp of the team had started off.

Meanwhile the captain Sachin Tendulkar along with Zaheer Khan had some interactions with the Team members. They also watched the Team playing a practice match, even the team owners Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita Ambani were present.

Jacob Oram may not play in IPL Season 3

Due to knee injury New Zealand's all-rounder Jacob Oram’s participation in IPL Season 3 seems doubtful. He has earned a lucrative contract of $675,000 from CSK (Chennai Super Kings) for IPL Season 3. On Wednesday Napier series first ODI was played between New Zealand & Australia where he suffered a partial tear of the patella tendon. So this damage makes his appearance to be doubtful in IPL Season 3 as only 8 days left for the IPL to commence.

“Jacob Oram suffered a partial patella tendon tear. It is expected that Jacob will recover in three or four weeks.” said the New Zealand's team manager Dave Currie.

Yuvraj Singh progresses well in fitness

Yuvaraj Singh a key player of for INDIA as well as Kings XI Punjab was suffering from injury where his ligament was torn on his left wrist in late January. Hence, he missed the 2nd Test match against Bangladesh & missed entire series against South Africa. He had gone to Australia for treatment recently.

He has resumed his competitive training this week & is getting closer to be fit. Yuvi twittered on his page today saying that after batting around 70-80 balls, he felt good about his progress towards a return to action in IPL-3.

New Zealand won 1st ODI against Australia

Australians opened their innings with a great start where Watson struck 14 in the opening over. They reached 50 in the sixth over, later on things got slower when Watson lifted Oram to deep midwicket & was a clean take from Ingram. Finally Australia managed to put up a score of 275 for 8 wickets in 50 overs.

Kiwis gave a Strong start of 75 run opening partnership from McCullum & Ingram. Later Ross Taylor gave a good knock of 70 from 71 balls to boost the confidence of Zew Zealand & Lead them into victorious path. Taylor's departure came into picture when he was caught at deep midwicket off Shane Watson which brought Australia back into the game.

But unfortunately things did not go well, as Scott Styris finished the game in 49.2 overs by hitting a six over long-off in Doug Bollinger's over. Styris was unbeaten on 49 from 34 deliveries who put up a partnership with Shane Bond for a 35-run stand.

This was the first match for Ross Taylor as an Captain as Daniel Vettori was called late due to his stiff neck. Also this was the first win against Australia from past 14 ODI's palyed against them.