An update on the World Cup 2011

As we all are set and ready to watch the crickets biggest event "ICC World Cup" which will start from 19th February, The warm-up matches has already been started. Till now 6 warm-up matches has been played.

The 6th match was played between the world's top 2 team, India and Australia. This match was held at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore. India won the toss and chose to bat first. As usual, the Delhi duals Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag opened the innings for India. Gauti could not make it big for the day, Viru took the charge and played some brilliant knocks and finally departed scoring an half-century. After the fall of Sehwag, Indians could not resist the Aussies bowling attack. They kept on loosing wickets, there was a very good 8th wicket partnership that helped India to add some useful runs which helped India to put up a total score of 214 runs.

Australia opened its batting innings with a four, and kept on adding runs at an faster rate. Indians could not resist Aussies batting attack until Piyush Chawla came in. That was the turning point for India. Chawla bowled some magical spell which helped him to take 4 important wickets. This helped India to get back to the track and managed to take all the 10 wickets. Australia were bowled out for 176 runs. India won the match by 38 runs.

Though India did not show any star performance, they somehow managed to win the match against the World #1 team. This victory would have definitely increased the team morale and gain some more confidence to win the World Cup.

The warm-up matched will be played till 18th of Feb. The last match would be between England and Pakistan at Fatullah.

The cricketer's who might be playing their last world cup: Part1

Shoaib Akhtar, 35: Once the fastest bowler in the world, his career has always been on the brink of an abrupt end due to injuries and misdemeanours. But he has surprisingly hung on. Shoaib was runners-up in the 1999 World cup and bowled a delivery at 161 KMPH in the 2003 event. He's now one of the fading stars of a once brilliant team.

Jacques Kallis, 35: The finest all-rounder this side of the 1990s, Kallis has seen many World Cup heart-breaks: the quarterfinal in 1996, semi-finals in 1999 and 2007, and the rain-rule blunder of 2003. His team has a point to prove in 2011.

Muttiah Muralitharan, 38: Murali is the most successful bowler ever in international cricket. He retired from Tests last year with a mind-boggling 800 wickets and will retire from ODIs after the World Cup. Sri Lanka won the 1996 World Cup with him, reached the 2003 semis and the 2007 final. Playing at home again, can they do an encore for Murali?

Tillakaratne Dilshan, 34: He started his international career at 23, but blossomed late. He is one of the most destructive openers on sub-continental flatbeds and has also invented the ‘Dilscoop’. Sri Lanka is an aging side with lots of senior batsmen in their mid-30s. Dilshan might not be around in 2015.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 36: Chanders will be playing his fifth World Cup. In 1996, he almost took West Indies in to the final but his wicket triggered a collapse leading to an Australian win. Since then, the two-time champs have performed poorly at the World cup. Will this time be different?

Zaheer Khan, 32: Fast bowlers tend to have a shorter shelf-life than other cricketers. Given Zaheer's work-load and injury record, he would do well to stay fit for the 2015 World Cup. It's a difficult task, but let's hope India’s best pacer is still around taking loads of wickets.

The cricketer's who might be playing their last world cup: Part2

Here are some predictions for the cricketer's in which i think this might be their last World Cup.

Sachin Tendulkar, 37: He owns nearly every batting record there is but World Cup glory has eluded him. He single-handedly took India to the semis in 1996 and the final in 2003. This is his sixth World Cup and he will be 42 by the time the next World Cup comes around. In all probability, this is his last chance to wear the winner's medal.

Steve Tikolo, 39: He’s been the rock of Kenyan cricket ever since they started playing ODI cricket in 1996. A fluent middle-order batsman and an off-spinner, Tikolo astonishingly lead the minnows to the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup. 2011 is his fifth World Cup, and he’ll be plotting some upsets.

Ricky Ponting, 36: The Australia captain has been a middle-order force since the late 90s. But his poor form with the bat has coincided with Australia's worst slump in many years. Ponting has tasted World Cup success in 1999, 2003 and 2007 but this could be his final shot at the title.

Brett Lee, 35: Once the fastest bowler in the world alongside Shoaib Akhtar, Lee's career has been curtailed by recurring injuries. He's fought back into the team, but it will be a struggle for him to remain there for long. He's won the World Cup in 2003 and 2007.

Paul Collingwood, 34: He holds the distinction of leading England to their first world title, the World T20 in 2010. He's been England's blue-collared hero --- a hard-working batsman, attacking fielder and useful seamer --- but this may be his last chance to end his team's World Cup jinx.

Scott Styris, 35: He's a dependable middle-order batsman and an annoyingly good seamer. Styris will be 40 by the time the next World Cup happens in 2015. He has a good cup record, averaging 69.2 in just 18 matches. His experience will be much needed if this Kiwi team has to reverse its losing trend.

Yuraj Singh says that he taught of quitting cricket last year

As he had a series of injuries which led to his poor performance last year. He was not into the Indian ODI nor into the test team. He even showed poor performance in IPL-3 which led to few controversies. Now he admits that this was the worst situation that raised in his 10 years of cricketing. He even taught of quitting from cricket but his parents gave a strong support that he should continue his cricketing career.

Now he is into the World cup team that will be starting from 19th of Feb this year and he is very confident this time that he will show a good performance. He is also an part time spin bowler for the team as well. As this will be mostly the last World cup for Sachin Tendulkar, Yuraj Singh likes to make it a special World cup by winning it.

Ricky Ponting is worried about the new one day game announced by Australian Cricket

Australia Cricket recently announced that in this season it will be adding a new format of one day game where it will trial a 45 over game which will be split into 2 innings which will be having 20 overs in one innings and 25 overs in other innings. Ricky Ponting, Australian Cricket team captain believes that this new format of one day game might damage their preparations for the World Cup.
World Cup will be held in 2011 i.e, next year in February which will be hosted by India, Srilanka and Bangladesh. Only with few months remaining this drastic change will definitely affect the players especially the young spinners who might find it difficult this summer. He also added that their national team will not get affected that much as they will be playing another 12 to 13 ODI matches before the World Cup and it is Okay for them. They are much concerned about the young spinners in particular.