Second blow given by England to India`

Indians were whitewashed in the test series that was played against England few days ago. England have come back strongly stating that even they can dominate cricket in all the aspects. England won all the four test matches played against India and became the #1 test team in the world. India dropped to 3rd position from 1st.

Indian being a strong team in both T20 cricket and ODI cricket, played a T20 match against England yesterday at Old Trafford, Manchester, England. The toss was won by the Indian skipper and elected to bat first. India gave an marvelous start and were almost scoring 10 runs per over. At one point of time, they were 104/2 in just 11.4 overs. Rahul Dravid was beautiful with his bat as he scored 3 sixes but not even a single four, just imagine 3 sixes that too by Rahul Dravid. It was something like unbelievable thing. The newest entry Ajinkya Rahane played magnificently and put up a very good partnership with the Wall and he scored 61 runs. Later on Suresh Raina came in to bat and he also played nicely and scored 33 runs in just 19 deliveries which included 2 fours and 3 sixes. After this fall, rest of the team collapsed and ended up scoring only 165 runs loosing all 10 wickets with 2 deliveries to spare (IND - 165/10, 19.4 over). Everything ended up with a mess. Jade Dernbach from England took 4 wickets.

In reply to this England opened its batting innings but soon lost its first wicket in the very second delivery of the innings. England was in trouble as it lost its first wicket without opening the run account itself. But after this, things changed as the batsmen started to attack Indians bowlers. They played very wisely and kept on momentum going. This helped them a lot to build up some useful partnerships. England in 19.3 over, chased 165 runs successfully and became victorious. England scored 169 runs in 19.3 over loosing only 4 wickets (ENG - 169/4, 19.3 over). Eoin Morgan was the highest scorer for England who scored 49 runs in just 27 deliveries that inlcuded 7 fours and a six.

England won the match by 6 wickets. Man of the match was Jade Dernbach. By winning this match, England has sent a strong message to rest of the teams in the world stating that; apart from test cricket, they have become a strong contender in T20 cricket as well.

Second test match: India vs England

Today was the first day of the second test match played between England and India at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England. The toss was won by the Indian skipper MS Dhoni and he decided to field first.

England started its first innings with the openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook. Things started to go weird for the England as they lost first wicket when they reached only 7 runs. Third wicket partnership resulted in 50 runs, which gave some hopes to the team and bought back into the game. However, Indians managed to take 8 wickets in just 124 runs and they failed to remove the 9th wicket quickly. This costed them 73 runs partnership and later on Praveen Kumar managed to take the 9th wicket. Soon after the break of this great partnership Indians some how managed to remove the 10th wicket and ended up the England's first innings with a total of 221 runs (ENG - 221/10). Stuart Broad was the highest scorer in the innings who did the damage for India and he scored 64 runs in just 66 deliveries. Praveen Kumar, Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma took 3 wickets each for India.

In reply to this, India opened its batting innings with the openers Abhinav Mukund and Rahul Dravid. In the very first delivery, James Anderson took Abhinav Mukund's wicket. This left India into jeopardy as they lost a wicket without scoring a single run which was a bad start for them. VVS Laxman came in to bat at number 3 position. At the end of the day, Rahul Dravid was unbeaten scoring 7 runs and VVS Laxman at 13 runs. India has scored a total of 24 runs for the loss of 1 wicket (IND - 24/1).

Lots of action will happen tomorrow and i want Indians to play extraordinarily well and do not end up all out in the second day itself. 

First Test match: India vs England

After triumphing over West Indies, Now India will be touring England. They will be playing 4 test match cricket series which will be followed by 1 T20 match and 5 ODI cricket series. On 21st of June India and England will be playing the first test match that will be played at Lord's, London.

From past few years India have shown up some extraordinary performances and they have won many series which includes World Cup 2011. England is very keen about playing against the World champs and they are waiting for the moment. On the other hand, India are also looking to triumph over England as well. Plenty of actions to happen out in England for the next 2 months. After this tour, England in return will visit India.

Cricket Updates

Currently, The World Champion India has toured West Indies and have already played 1 T20 match and 4 ODI matches. India has won T20 match and 3 ODI matches so far. Hosts, West Indies team has won only one ODI match.

On the other hand World Cup finalist, Srilanka has toured England and have already played 2 Test matches. Already hosts have made a mark of winning, they won the first test match. Second match ended up in a draw.

Tomorrow, there is lots of action that is gonna take place. England and Srilanka will be playing their 3rd and final test match. If England wins or match is drawn, England will be the victorious one in the series. Srilanka cannot win the series but they have chances to draw the series by winning the 3rd test match.

India and West Indies will be playing their last and final ODI match of the series. India have already won the series, now its the time to show up their conquering power and glory. West Indies are looking to finish the series with 3-2, so that they can have some smile on their faces. Once the ODI matches are over, they will be playing a test series which consists of 3 test matches.

After touring the West Indies, India will be looking for their next prey which will be England. England team is very confident in winning all the matches that will be played against the visitors (India).

ICC World Cup 2011 updates: Day 8

On the 8th day of the ICC World Cup 2011, India played against England at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, India. Toss went into the favor of MS Dhoni and he chose to bat first.

The big guns Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar opened the batting innings for India. Sehwag hit 4 in the first delivery of the innings itself, it was an awesome start for India. Sehwag kept on firing and on the other end Sachin Tendulkar did not strike well. Sehwag departed after scoring 35 runs from 26 deliveries. Gautam Gambhir came in to bat and he also started playing well. Mean while Sachin took the responsibility and started hitting the ball. Gauti departed after scoring his half century and Yuvi came in to bat. Yuvaraj Singh partnered with master blaster and played some decent knocks while Sachin kept on hitting few sixes. Sachin Tendulkar looking to hit a big one, but at-last he changed his mind and tried to flick towards leg side which got edged and went straight to Michael Yardy who made no mistake. Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar went back to pavilion after scoring 120 runs in 115 deliveries that included 10 fours and 5 sixes. Yuvaraj Singh made his half century and returned back. Immediately Indian skipper MS Dhoni followed him. After this things changed, India lost remaining wickets and were all out in 49.5 overs with 1 delivery to spare. India scored 338 runs with the loss of 10 wickets. Tim Bresnan took 5 wickets.

England needed 339 runs to win the match, which is not an easy go for them. Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen started the batting innings for England. They both started off well and right from the beginning boundaries kept on adding. After the fall of Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell came in and made a good partnership of 170 runs. This partnership took away India's hope of winning the match. In the 43rd over, Zaheer Khan came back and broke the partnership claiming both the wickets back to back. Andrew Strauss scored an amazing score of 158 runs and Ian Bell scored 69 runs. After this, things turned towards Indian side and they were looking stronger back with hopes. But this didn't last long as they started giving runs but at the same time taking wickets. When Piyush Chawla bowled the 49th over, he went for 2 sixes which almost turned the match towards England. But, he picked up his prey in the last delivery. At this point of time England were 325 runs with the loss of 8 wickets. They were in need of 14 runs in 6 deliveries with 2 wickets remaining. After a six was hit, England were little relieved and the hope for India was again gone as England needed only 4 runs from 2 deliveries. In the next delivery they made 2 more runs thus requiring only 2 runs from 1 ball to win the match. Last delivery Munaf bowled a good one and gave just only one run. Both the teams were releaved as the match did not go in to anyones favor.

Match was drawn and the points was shared by both the teams. Man of the match was Andrew Strauss.

ICC World Cup 2011 updates: Day 7 match 2

Second match of the day was played between Bangladesh and Ireland at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Bangladesh. Bengal tigers won the toss and elected to bat first.

Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes started off the batting innings for Bangladesh. The opening was very aggressive, Tamim Iqbal was just firing. But this did not long last when his partner Imrul Kayes departed scoring 12 runs. At this point of time, Bangladesh total was 53 runs in just 6.3 overs. After this break, Bengal tigers start to feel the pressure and their scoring rate kept on decreasing with each fall. At 49.2 over, they lost all the 10 wickets and ended up scoring only 205 runs. Andre Botha took 3 wickets for Ireland and very impressive.

Ireland needed only 206 runs to win the match. Skipper William Porterfield and Paul Striling opened the batting innings for the Bangladesh. The start was slow as the asking rate was less than 4 runs per over. When Ireland were at 23 runs, they lost Paul Stirling and at 36 William Porterfield. Somehow they managed to score runs and kept the pressurs on Bangladeshis. When Ireland reached 151 runs, The Bangladesh supporters kept silent as Ireland came back strongly. Even Bangladesh team were loosing confidence, this thing ended when Shafiul Islam came back very strongly. He took Kevin O'Brien which was his first wicket of the day. The crowd just burst into cheers and the team was back on track. The hope of winning the match was back in them. Later the fall of 6th wicket, Shafiul Islam took remaining 3 wickets. In other terms i can say that he destroyed the lower batting lineup and ended up taking 4 wickets and became the most economical bowler in the match.

Bangladesh team won the match by 27 runs. Man of the match went to Tamim Iqbal for his good batting performance and a beautiful catch which took which was considered as the turning point for winning the match.

ICC World Cup 2011 updates: Day 5

On the day 5 of the ICC World Cup 2011, Pakistan and Kenya faced each other at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota, Sri Lanka. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.

Pakistan opened the batting innings with its openers Mohammad Hafeez  and Ahmad Shahzad. The start was very poor and Kenyans looked dominant. In first 6.5 overs, Pakistan struggled a lot and scored only 12 runs and lost its openers. After this fall, Kamran Akmal partnered with Younus Khan and put up a partnership of 88 runs that gave some boost to other players in the team. After the break of this partnership, few more good partnerships added much of score to the total. Kamran Akmal, Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal  scored half centuries. After completing 50 overs, Pakistan landed up scoring a magnificent 317 runs in total for the loss of 7 wickets. Thomas Odoyo took 3 wickets for Kenya.

Kenya needed 318 runs to win the match. But this was an very difficult target as the opponents are one of the strongest teams in the world. Kenyans started off good but with lesser run rate than the required rate. First wicket fell in 1st ball of the 10th over, this shows that they were in a situation such that they had to start scoring because of the asking rate that kept on increasing. After the fall of 1st wicket, Kenya started loosing wickets in regular intervals. Only Collins Obuya showed some resistance to the Pakistani bowlers and some good knocks. He scored 47 runs that included 3 fours and 3 sixes. But the Captain Shahid Afridi bowled well  and took 5 wickets in his 8 over spell and more over his economy rate was just 2 runs per over. In 33.1 overs, Kenya lost all its 10 wickets and ended up scoring 112 runs.

Pakistan won the match by 205 runs. Man of the match went to Umar Akmal for his brilliant batting performance where he scored 71 runs in just 52 deliveries and he took a catch and one run-out.

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