ICC World Cup 2011 updates: Day 18

On the 18th day of the ICC World Cup 2011, Pakistan and New Zealand faced each other at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy, Sri Lanka. Kiwis won the toss and they chose to bat first. Today an unbelievable batting performance in the World Cup history was been displayed by the Kiwis. In the last 4.1 overs i.e, in 25 balls, they scored 92 runs. The main player who was behind this was my all time favorite "Ross Taylor".

Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum opened the batting innings for the Kiwis. Brendon did not stay long, he departed after thrashing Shoaib Akthar for a six. Jamie How came in to bat and he played really slow. He just scored 4 runs in 29 deliveries. Only Martin Guptill was playing at this moment. Ross Taylor entered the crease and he was very defensive at the start. Pakistan were dominant in bowling and they successfully removed 6 wickets in 45.5 overs giving away only 210 runs. At this point of time, New Zealand were in bad position as their run rate was less than 5 runs per over. After this, Jacob Oram and Ross Taylor just belted the Pakistani bowlers in all the ways as much as possible. They destroyed the Pakistani bowling attack, they both scored 85 runs partnership in just 22 deliveries, that means 3.86 runs per delivery. This was the major turning point for the Kiwis. Finally they ended up scoring a magnificent 302 runs in total loosing 7 wickets in 7 overs (NZ - 302/7, 50 over). Ross Taylor was unbeaten scoring 131 runs in 124 deliveries that included 8 fours and 7 sixes. Brendon McCullum had hit a six, Nathan McCullum 2 sixes and Jacob Oram 3 sixes. In total, Kiwis had hit 13 sixes in their batting innings. Only Umar Gul the economical bowler from Pakistan, his economy rate was only 3.2 runs per over and took 3 wickets.

Pakistan after the bad bowling performance, needed 303 runs to win the match. They could not go for big runs as they were loosing the wickets in quick successions. In 17.1 overs, they lost 6 wickets and scored a total of 66 runs only. Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq and Umar Gul some how managed to play for longer time and scored some useful runs. But they failed to make it big. Abdul Razzaq made his half-century. Finally Pakistan gave all its wickets to the Kiwis and ended their batting innings scoring a total of 192 runs in 41.4 overs (PAK - 192/10, 41.4 over). Tim Southee took 3 wickets.


New Zealand won the match by 110 runs. Man of the match was Ross Taylor who showed an brilliant batting performance and also took a catch.


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ODI cricket: Bangladesh vs New Zealand

Today, Bangladesh made an remarkable history by winning an ODI cricket match against New Zealand team. New Zealand team is one of the top teams in the world and they are playing extremely well from last few years. Bangladesh played New Zealand at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka. Bangladesh team won the toss and they decided to field first.

Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder opened the batting innings for the New Zealand team. In the very first over, Brendon McCullum returned back to pavilion without scoring any run. New Zealand lost its first wicket with 0 run on board. Once New Zealand lost its second wicket, it started to loose wickets in regular fashion. Ross Taylor and Kyle Mills put up a good partnership that helped the team to end up with a decent total. By 42.5 overs, it lost all 10 wickets and ended up scoring only 173 runs (173/10). Ross Taylor was unbeaten with a score of 62 runs in 72 deliveries that included 3 fours and 4 sixes. Suhrawadi Shuvo was the highlight for Bangladesh team as he picked up 3 crucial wickets with an economy rate of only 1.4 runs per over.

Bangladesh needed 174 runs to win the match with 50 overs to go and 10 wickets on hand. This is the chance for them to win a match as they have been loosing matches from past couple of years. Imrul Kayes and Shahriar Nafees started the batting innings for the team. They both gave a clean start and played well to put up a partnership of 127 runs. This partnership helped the team a lot boosting confidence in the batting line up and reducing the pressure. Bangladesh by 40 overs successfully chased the target and won the match by 7 wickets. In 40 overs, they made a total of 177 runs for the loss of 3 wickets. (177/3). Imrul Kayes scored 50 runs and Shahriar Nafees scored 73 runs.  

Man of the match award went to Suhrawadi Shuvo for his beautiful bowling figure that helped the team to win the match.

Champions League Twenty20

South African star ace batsman Jacques Kallis will be playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the upcoming Champions League Twenty20. He will not be playing for the Warriors and it will be a huge loss that team. Similarly Ross Taylor and Cameron White will be playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. As Cameron White is playing for RCB, David Hussey will be leading the Bushrangers team in place of Cameron White.

Andrew Flintoff will not be playing for Chennai Super Kings as he has undergone 2 knee operations in past 12 months. He will not be available for this year's Champions League Twenty20. Muttiah Muralitharan, Thilan Thushara, Doug Bollinger, Albie Morkel, Michael Hussey, Mr. Mongoose i.e, Mathew Hayden are the foreign players who are included in the CSK team for this season.

10 teams will be participating in the Champions League Twenty20 which will include some great players like Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Kieron Pollard, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mike Hussey, Ross Taylor, Mathew Hayden, Shaun Tait, Jayawardene and so on. This September month is loaded with full action as the Champions League Twenty20 will be played.

Todays updates on Cricket

Kiwis will be playing against the Srilankans on Friday. Kiwis made a remarkable victory against the Indians on Tuesday. India could score only 88 runs which was the lowest total ever scored against the New Zealand team. After such a great victory, Ross Taylor is pretty confident about his team in winning their second match which will be played against the Srilankans. Srilankans are also equally strong as they have very good bowling line up and a good batting line up.

Munaf Patel is returning back to the Indian team. After a year, he is playing in the team. He was added into the team as Indian bowling department has become very weak as some of the good bowlers like Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Sreesanth are suffering from injuries. Let us see what he will do to his team in the upcoming match. Next match will be played against the Srilankans on Sunday.

New Zealand thrash India by 200 runs

Tirangular series between India, Srilanka and New Zealand started today. Opening match was played between India and New Zealand at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Rangiri, Srilanka. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first.

New Zealand gave a poor start as they lost 3 wickets when its total was just 28 runs. Later my favorite, Ross Taylor and Scott Styris partnered up well and played for 31.4 overs scoring a magnificent 190 runs partnership. Ross Taylor and Scott Styris scored a brilliant 95 and 89 runs respectively. After this partnership break, India managed to remove remaining 6 wickets successfully. By 48.5 overs, New Zealand scored a total of 288 runs and lost all its 10 wickets. Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar took 4 and 3 wickets respectively.

India needed 289 runs in 50 overs to win the opening match of the series. India gave a brilliant start and looked well till it lost its first wicket at the end of the seventh over. It was Virender Sehwag who departed scoring 19 runs from 23 deliveries. After this fall, things started to worsen for India as the wickets fell in regular interval. By 29.3 overs, India lost all its 10 wickets and managed to score only 88 runs in total. This was the lowest total scored by India against the New Zealand.

New Zealand won the match by 200 runs, which is a very huge margin. Ross Taylor played very well with the bat and in the field as well. He took 4 catches and captained very well. Man of the match was Ross Taylor for his awesome performance.

Royal Challengers Bangalore enter Champions League

Today Royal Challengers Bangalore & Deccan Chargers played against each other in the IPL  season 3 third-fourth play off at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. Both the teams had lost semi-finals which had shattered their IPL winning dreams. This is a very crucial match & a must win match for both the teams. The team which wins this match will be playing the Twenty20 Champions League that will taking place this year.
Deccan Chargers won the toss & elected to bat first. Skipper Adam Gilchrist & Monish Mishra opened the innings for Deccan Chargers. Adam Gilchrist hit a four in the very first ball of the DC innings, but this did not work for Deccan Chargers as both were dismissed. Even Rohit Sharma did not stay long as he gave a clean catch to Kevin Pietersen. Deccan Chargers were under real trouble as they lost 3 wickets in 3.2 overs scoring only 15 runs. Further the wicket falls kept on continuing regularly but with very bad run rate. By, 10 overs, DC scored only 43 runs & had lost 5 wickets. All important wickets were gone & this particular point of time, Royal Challengers Bangalore looked very outrageous & very dominant. Deccan Chargers scored only 82 runs in 16.2 overs & had lost 6 wickets. This was an halted scored for them, because they lost remaining 4 wickets at this run itself. This was the lowest total ever made by a team in IPL history.
 Royal Challengers Bangalore wanted just 83 runs to grab the 3rd position & also qualify to play in Twenty20 Champions League.

Jacques Kallis & Rahul Dravid opened the innings for RCB. Jacques Kallis again became the highest run getter in IPL 2010 crossing Sachin Tendulkar. He did not stay for long time as he was tricked by Rohit Sharma & gave a simple catch to the bowler. Kevin Pietersen walks to the crease & played well till the end. Rahul Dravid & Pietersen were unbeaten scoring 35 & 29 runs respectively, thereby winning the match by 9 wickets. Royal Challengers Bangalore completed their chase in 13.5 overs & got qualified for the Champions League.

Next match will be the IPL finals where Chennai Super Kings will be playing against the dominant Mumbai Indians. Definitely this will be an very interesting match to be watched as the Indian captain MS Dhoni's team will be playing against the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar 's team.

CSK gains some boost as Michael Hussey will join the team

Australian players Michael Hussey and Doug Bollinger will be joining Chennai Super Kings on 1st April. As soon as the second test match gets over which is being played against New Zealand, these two will be joining CSK.

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni will definitely be happy as these duo will be joining the team. so far, Chennai Super Kings have lost four matches out of 5 matches played in this IPL season 3. Even some biggies like Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor etc., will also be playing in this IPL as soon as the second test match which is being played between New Zealand & Australia is complete. Definitely expectations will more on these players arrival to their respective IPL teams.