Craze For Sports

Sachin Retires from ODI

2012-12-22T22:02:00.001-08:00

Sachin Tendulkar announces his retirement from One Day Internationals today 23-12-2012..

Alastair Cook A Great Batsman In The Make

2012-12-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

Cook has now made centuries in his first 5 Tests as England captain! He is showing great signs of becoming the greatest ever English cricketer!!

Champions League T20 Final

2012-10-27T18:47:00.001-07:00

The finals Highveld Lions vs. Sydney Sixers is on Sunday, Oct. 28, 11:30 a.m. ET. at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg

The finals match of the Champions League T20 league is now set, and it will feature the Highveld Lions taking on the Sydney Sixers for the title at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

Sydney Sixers are unbeaten in the tournament , having won all five of their matches entering the finals, including all four of their group stage games.

Highveld also enters the finals on a roll. They've won four out of their five tournament matches, with their only loss coming to the Sixers, in group stage.

West Indies crush Australia in the Semi finals

2012-10-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

West Indies defeated Australia by 74 runs in the second semi-final of the ICC World T20.

Thanks to a great knock by Chris Gayle who scored 75no off 41 balls, and Pollard 38 of 15.

It was a treat for the fans of West Indies when Gayle and Pollard were hitting massive sixes with ease.

Score Board:

West Indies

			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Charles	c Wade	b Starc	10	13	2	0
Gayle	not out		75	41	5	6
Samuels		b Cummins	26	20	2	2
Dwayne Bravo	c Bailey	b Cummins	37	31	1	3
Pollard	c Warner	b Doherty	38	15	3	3
Extras		8w 6b 5lb	19
Total		for 4	205	(20.0 ovs)

Australia

			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Warner		b Badree	1	3	0	0
Watson		b Badree	7	9	1	0
M Hussey	c and b	Samuels	18	12	3	0
White	c Ramdin	b Rampaul	5	6	0	0
Bailey	c Russell	b Pollard	63	29	6	4
D Hussey	c and b	Rampaul	0	2	0	0
Wade	c Badree	b Narine	1	5	0	0
Cummins	c Charles	b Pollard	13	15	1	0
Starc		b Rampaul	2	5	0	0
Hogg	st Ramdin	b Narine	7	7	0	0
Doherty	not out		9	7	1	0
Extras		2w 3lb	5
Total		all out	131	(16.4 ovs)

West Indies would face Sri Lanka in the finals on sunday. Having lost to the Sri Lankans in the group stages, Sammy and his men would have lot to work on before the finals.

India loose badly to Australia

2012-09-28T18:01:00.003-07:00

MS Dhoni and his ‘Men in Blue’ were caught in a whirlpool of boundaries and sixes as Shane Watson and David Warner made a light affair of chasing 141 runs to hammer their opponents by nine wickets on Friday.

Australian pacers, led by Watson (3/34) and Pat Cummins (2/16) knocked the stuffing out of the Indian batsmen by restricting them to 140 for seven after being asked to bowl.

The highly successful openers -- Watson (72) and David Warner (63 not out) then sent the bowlers on a leatherhunt as they finished the match with 5.1 overs to spare.

All-rounder Watson again did everything right as he first grabbed three wickets and then decimated the Indian attack as he hit as many seven huge sixes in his superb knock off 41 balls, fetching him his third man-of-the match award in a row.

With the able support from Warner who also took Indian bowlers to the cleaners with an unbeaten knock, the two openers literally bulldozed the Indian spin trio.

On a pitch that was supposed to assist spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla were punished mercilessly by the Aussie openers who added 133 for the first wicket.

Watson who completed his 50 off 28 balls first hit Ashwin for a couple of sixes and then one by one launched into Harbhajan, Chawla and Irfan Pathan.

After the batsmen flopped, the Indian bowlers needed to bowl in good areas but did exactly opposite as they gifted one half tracker after another.

While Zaheer Khan could feel unlucky not getting a close leg-before shout against Watson, no one can take anything away from the performance of one of world`s premier all-rounders.

The demoralizing manner of defeat will also affect the net run-rate of the Indian team in case the qualifications for semi-final become close.

Rahul Dravid's Final ODI moments !!!

2012-08-26T22:54:00.001-07:00

India vs New Zealand 2012

2012-08-19T03:30:00.000-07:00

New Zealand tour to India this August 2012.

The series will begin on Thursday, August 23, 2012 in India. India vs New Zealand 2012 is an international bilateral series to be organized by India.

New Zealand in India 2012 will consist of 2 Test and 2 T20I matches to be hosted by India in Aug-Sep 2012.

Schedule of Matches By Craze For Cricket

Date and Time	Match Details and Series
Thu Aug 23 - Mon Aug 27 09:30 local \| 04:00 GMT	1st Test - India vs New Zealand Rajiv Gandhi Int. Stadium, Hyderabad
Fri Aug 31 - Tue Sep 4 09:30 local \| 04:00 GMT	2nd Test - India vs New Zealand M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Sat Sep 8 20:00 local \| 14:30 GMT D/N	1st T20 - India vs New Zealand Indira Priyadarshini Stadium, Visakhapatnam
Tue Sep 11 20:00 local \| 14:30 GMT D/N	2nd T20 - India vs New Zealand MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai

Kevin Pietersen's Saga Unfolded

2012-08-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

2012 has been the year of controversy for Kevin Pietersen which has eventually found him out of the England cricket team in spite of being England's greatest cricketer of this generation.

May 23
Pietersen is fined an undisclosed sum by the ECB for criticising Sky commentator Nick Knight. A week later he announces his retirement from one-day and Twenty20 cricket, which he offers to reverse a month later if he can play the whole of the IPL.
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August 4
He makes a brilliant 149 against South Africa in the second Test. But Pietersen’s relationship with England fractures when he says "It’s tough being me in this dressing room", and admits he is considering retiring from Test cricket after the third Test.
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August 10
Strauss and Pietersen meet after newspaper revelations that he sent text messages making derogatory comments, allegedly about Strauss, to South Africa players during the second Test. A peace deal is attempted in a call to Matt Prior.
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August 11
Pietersen posts a video on YouTube through his PR company in which he claims he wants to play for England in all forms of international cricket, without conditions. "I’ve had a change of heart because I love playing cricket for England."
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August 12
Pietersen is dropped by England for the third Test against South Africa at Lord’s. Hugh Morris says: "A fundamental item was to confirm publicly that no derogatory texts had been sent to the South African team. This has not been forthcoming."
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August 13
Former newspaper editor Piers Morgan, a friend of Pietersen’s, escalates row by claiming two England players, Stuart Broad (right) and Graeme Swann (left), have links to the originator of a parody Twitter account. He tweets: "Over to you Mr Flower."
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August 14
Broad is interviewed by the ECB but denies involvement in the KP Genius Twitter account. Broad says: "I did not play any role in the creation of this account or provide any information regarding Kevin Pietersen or the England team."
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August 15
Pietersen issues an apology, admitting he sent "provocative" text messages to members of the South Africa team at Headingley. Strauss is unconvinced. "To resolve those issues we need to do it face to face, away from the media."

India vs Sri lanka T20 2012

2012-08-07T18:43:00.002-07:00

India beat Sri Lanka in the T20 match by 39 runs.

Virat Kholi played yet another fabulous innings with the bat and also proved a point with the ball bowling 3 overs for just 13 runs which proved very handy.

Bringing Irfan Pathan's back to the Indian team has proved to be a very good decision. Although brought in as a replacement to injured Vinay Kumar , Irfan Pathan has done a great deal with the ball in the entire series winning two man of the match awards.

Irfan bowled 4 overs for 27 runs and picked up 3 crucial wickets which paved way to Indias victory in the T20 match.

Toss Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field

Result India won by 39 runs

Player of the match Irfan Pathan (India)

Player of the series Virat Kohli (India)

India (20 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
G Gambhir	b Eranga	6	7	8	1	0	75.00
AM Rahane	c & b Mendis	21	46	25	0	1	84.00
V Kohli	c Thirimanne b Eranga	68	65	48	11	1	141.66
SK Raina	not out	34	43	25	3	1	136.00
MS Dhoni*†	not out	16	13	14	2	0	114.28
Extras	(lb 7, w 3)	10
Total	(3 wickets; 20 overs; 90 mins)	155	(7.75 runs per over)

Did not bat RG Sharma, MK Tiwary, IK Pathan, R Ashwin, UT Yadav, AB Dinda

Fall of wickets 1-7 (Gambhir, 1.4 ov), 2-81 (Rahane, 11.3 ov), 3-129 (Kohli, 16.3 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
AD Mathews	3	0	23	0	7.66
RMS Eranga	4	0	30	2	7.50	(2w)
SL Malinga	4	0	31	0	7.75	(1w)
NLTC Perera	4	0	34	0	8.50
HMRKB Herath	3	0	17	0	5.66
BMAJ Mendis	2	0	13	1	6.50

Sri Lanka (target: 156 runs from 20 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
DPMD Jayawardene*	lbw b Pathan	26	22	19	5	0	136.84
TM Dilshan	b Pathan	0	4	1	0	0	0.00
WU Tharanga	c Raina b Pathan	5	7	4	0	0	125.00
HDRL Thirimanne	b Ashwin	20	30	15	2	0	133.33
AD Mathews	c †Dhoni b Dinda	31	37	29	3	0	106.89
BMAJ Mendis	c Rahane b Yadav	11	22	15	0	0	73.33
LD Chandimal†	c Kohli b Dinda	7	20	11	1	0	63.63
NLTC Perera	run out (Tiwary)	1	4	5	0	0	20.00
RMS Eranga	c Ashwin b Dinda	6	11	7	1	0	85.71
SL Malinga	c †Dhoni b Dinda	0	3	2	0	0	0.00
HMRKB Herath	not out	0	1	0	0	0	-
Extras	(lb 2, w 7)	9
Total	(all out; 18 overs; 85 mins)	116	(6.44 runs per over)

Fall of wickets 1-7 (Dilshan, 0.5 ov), 2-14 (Tharanga, 2.1 ov), 3-35 (Jayawardene, 4.2 ov), 4-68 (Thirimanne, 9.1 ov), 5-96 (Mathews, 12.6 ov), 6-100 (Mendis, 14.3 ov), 7-102 (Perera, 15.2 ov), 8-116 (Chandimal, 17.2 ov), 9-116 (Eranga, 17.4 ov), 10-116 (Malinga, 17.6 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
IK Pathan	4	0	27	3	6.75	(3w)
UT Yadav	3	0	24	1	8.00	(2w)
AB Dinda	3	1	19	4	6.33
V Kohli	3	0	13	0	4.33
RG Sharma	1	0	9	0	9.00	(1w)
R Ashwin	4	0	22	1	5.50	(1w)

Michael Phelps Wallpapers

2012-08-05T19:03:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps Creates New World Record

2012-08-05T18:54:00.003-07:00

As expected, Michael Phelps kicked off winning a gold and silver in two races at the London Olympics 2012. There’s no doubt that Michael Phelps continues to surprise the world with his outstanding performance. This famed American swimmer has yet again proved his calibre in winning medals for his country.

After bagging gold and a silver medal at the Aquatics Centre in London Olympics 2012, Michael Phelps has become one of the greatest Olympians of all times.

In the 200m Butterfly Event at the London Olympics, Michael Phelps completed second just behind Chad Le Clos of South Africa. While in the 4x200m Freestyle relay event at the London Olympics, Michael almost cruised to victory.

With this achievement of Phelps now surpassed the record of eighteen Olympic medals as set by a Soviet gymnast, Larisa Latynina in the year 1964.

His overall tally now stands at 19 (15 gold, two silver and two bronze), surpassing the 18 that Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina achieved between 1956 and 1964.

Usain Bolt Wins Gold

2012-08-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins men's 100-metre race in London Olympics in 9.63 seconds creating new Olympic record.

Racing against a star-studded field in which every qualifier ran faster than 10 seconds in the semifinal, Bolt successfully defended his 2008 gold medal in the 100 meters by setting a new Olympic record of 9.63 seconds.

"I executed, and that's the key," Bolt told reporters after celebrating his fourth career gold medal with a victory lap. "I stopped worrying about the start. The end is what's important."

Yohan Blake of Jamaica took silver in 9.75 seconds, with Justin Gatlin of the United States capturing bronze in 9.79 seconds. A training partner of Bolt, Blake equalled a personal best with his runner-up time. Also setting or equalling personal best times were Gatlin and Ryan Bailey of the United States, who finished fifth. Of course, with a who's who of international track stars -- largely hailing from the United States and Jamaica -- it was no surprise to see the scoreboard light up with such stellar times.

"It will take a 9.7 to even get a medal. It's mind blowing," Tyson Gay of the United States told the Daily Mail shortly before the Games. Gay burned to a personal season's best 9.80 to finish fourth. True to his prediction, all top three finishers crossed the line under 9.8 seconds.

While the 25-year-old Bolt did not better the world record mark of 9.58 seconds that he established in Berlin in 2009, he did best the 9.69 time he posted in the event at the 2008 Olympics. Despite noticeably slowing up to celebrate before even reaching the finish line during the 100-meter dash in Beijing, Bolt's time was then a world record. While that mark didn't stand very long, rumors of Bolt's lack of fitness lingered for months leading up to the games. He was defeated by Blake in the 100-meter and 200-meter races at the Jamaican Olympic Trials and revealed just days before the Olympics that he had been dealing with a back problem that had created hamstring issues. By the time that Bolt reached the track for his first 100-meter heat on Saturday morning, there were more questions swirling around him than answers.

India vs Sri Lanka final ODI

2012-08-04T19:13:00.002-07:00

India beat Sri Lanka in the final Odi and win the series 4-1 .

Toss India won the toss and elected to bat

India 294/7 (50 ov), Sri Lanka 274 (45.4 ov)

Result India won by 20 runs
Series India won the 5-match series 4-1
Man of the Match Irfan Pathan
Man of the Series Virat Kohli

Opener Gautam Gambhir (88), Manoj Tiwary (65) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (58) scored half-centuries while Rohit Sharma (4) failed yet again. Dhoni along with Pathan (29 off 28) plundered 77 runs in just 9.5 overs before falling to Lasith Malinga in the penultimate over of India innings.

Irfan Pathan claimed five wickets and contributed valuable 29 runs as India managed a 20-run win over Sri Lanka in final ODI to win the series 4-1.

Scorecard:

India (50 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
G Gambhir	c Malinga b Senanayake	88	173	99	7	0	88.88
AM Rahane	lbw b Perera	9	22	17	1	0	52.94
V Kohli	lbw b Pradeep	23	42	35	2	0	65.71
RG Sharma	b Pradeep	4	12	9	1	0	44.44
MK Tiwary	c Perera b Malinga	65	81	68	6	0	95.58
SK Raina	c Thirimanne b Malinga	0	3	1	0	0	0.00
MS Dhoni*†	c †Chandimal b Malinga	58	57	38	8	1	152.63
IK Pathan	not out	29	54	28	2	0	103.57
R Ashwin	not out	2	5	5	0	0	40.00
Extras	(lb 10, w 6)	16
Total	(7 wickets; 50 overs; 228 mins)	294	(5.88 runs per over)

Did not bat Z Khan, AB Dinda

Fall of wickets 1-29 (Rahane, 5.1 ov), 2-77 (Kohli, 14.3 ov), 3-87 (Sharma, 16.6 ov), 4-197 (Tiwary, 37.1 ov), 5-197 (Raina, 37.2 ov), 6-213 (Gambhir, 38.6 ov), 7-290 (Dhoni, 48.5 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
SL Malinga	10	0	64	3	6.40	(1w)
NLTC Perera	10	0	53	1	5.30	(3w)
AD Mathews	5	0	29	0	5.80
N Pradeep	10	0	63	2	6.30
SMSM Senanayake	10	0	50	1	5.00	(1w)
BMAJ Mendis	5	0	25	0	5.00

Sri Lanka (target: 295 runs from 50 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
WU Tharanga	c Rahane b Pathan	31	37	21	4	0	147.61
TM Dilshan	c Khan b Pathan	0	7	3	0	0	0.00
HDRL Thirimanne	run out (Kohli/Khan/†Dhoni)	77	135	96	5	3	80.20
LD Chandimal†	lbw b Dinda	8	11	8	2	0	100.00
AD Mathews*	run out (Tiwary)	13	14	16	2	0	81.25
CK Kapugedera	lbw b Khan	9	10	7	1	0	128.57
BMAJ Mendis	c †Dhoni b Pathan	72	103	88	6	0	81.81
NLTC Perera	c Kohli b Pathan	18	31	19	2	0	94.73
SMSM Senanayake	b Pathan	7	12	7	0	0	100.00
SL Malinga	c Raina b Dinda	10	14	9	2	0	111.11
N Pradeep	not out	0	5	0	0	0	-
Extras	(b 2, lb 14, w 13)	29
Total	(all out; 45.4 overs; 194 mins)	274	(6.00 runs per over)

Fall of wickets 1-13 (Dilshan, 1.3 ov), 2-61 (Tharanga, 7.5 ov), 3-74 (Chandimal, 10.1 ov), 4-89 (Mathews, 13.2 ov), 5-102 (Kapugedera, 15.1 ov), 6-204 (Thirimanne, 35.5 ov), 7-252 (Perera, 42.3 ov), 8-256 (Mendis, 42.6 ov), 9-266 (Senanayake, 44.6 ov), 10-274 (Malinga, 45.4 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
Z Khan	9	1	53	1	5.88	(5w)
IK Pathan	10	0	61	5	6.10	(4w)
AB Dinda	7.4	0	55	2	7.17
V Kohli	1	0	3	0	3.00
R Ashwin	9	0	37	0	4.11
RG Sharma	6	0	23	0	3.83
SK Raina	2	0	12	0	6.00
MK Tiwary	1	0	14	0	14.00

By this win, India have now claimed the second spot in the ODI rankings behind Australia after starting the series in the fourth position. Both India and Australia now have 119 rating points, followed by South Africa (118).

Virat Kholi Century

2012-07-31T18:29:00.001-07:00

Virat Kohli scored his 13th century against Sri Lnaka in the 4th ODI of the Micromax Series.
This was Virat Kholi's 89th ODI appearance, a feat hitherto unattained by any other batsman in ODI history. The Delhi batsman, on his way to another three-digit figure, also completed quickest 1000 runs in a calender year with a whopping average of 77.15.

Take a look at the list of the Quickest batsmen to score 13 centuries!! None in the world has done it before as quickly as Virat Kholi has managed to do it.

Kholi is currently in the 3rd position in the world's best ODI batsmen list by the ICC. Being Kohli's fifth century in last eight matches, its very much sure that he is very much sure to climb up the list to claim the top spot.

India Vs Sri Lanka 4th ODI

2012-07-31T18:19:00.003-07:00

India Beat Sri Lanka in great style in the 4th ODI to clinch the Micromax series. Thanks to brilliant knock by the in form Virat Kholi, scoring an unbeaten 128 of just 119 balls with 12 fours and a 6.
Also not to forget an excellent supporting role played by the energetic left hand batsmen Suresh Raina scoring an unbeaten 58 of just 51 balls with 4 fours and a six.

Manoj Tiwary who was given a chance in this match came out flying with 4 wickets in his spell of 10 overs giving away 61 runs. Must mention that he bowled the 50th over of the match which was more than a gamble and gave away 18 runs in that last over, which made his bowling stats a bit expensive. He came out with the bat at 3down and scored 21 of 38 balls with 2 fours to his credit.

Sri Lanka 251/8 (50 ov), India 255/4 (42.2 ov)

Result India won by 6 wickets (with 46 balls remaining)

Man of the match Virat Kohli (India)

Sri Lanka (50 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
WU Tharanga	st †Dhoni b Ashwin	51	97	73	4	1	69.86
TM Dilshan	c †Dhoni b Dinda	42	84	48	7	0	87.50
HDRL Thirimanne	b Ashwin	47	105	69	0	0	68.11
LD Chandimal†	c Pathan b Tiwary	28	36	32	2	0	87.50
DPMD Jayawardene*	c †Dhoni b Sehwag	3	4	3	0	0	100.00
AD Mathews	c Kohli b Tiwary	14	27	34	1	0	41.17
BMAJ Mendis	b Tiwary	17	14	16	2	0	106.25
NLTC Perera	c Raina b Tiwary	2	3	3	0	0	66.66
HMRKB Herath	not out	17	15	15	1	1	113.33
SL Malinga	not out	15	11	7	0	2	214.28
Extras	(lb 2, w 13)	15
Total	(8 wickets; 50 overs; 202 mins)	251	(5.02 runs per over)

Did not bat N Pradeep

Fall of wickets 1-91 (Dilshan, 18.2 ov), 2-102 (Tharanga, 21.1 ov), 3-152 (Chandimal, 31.4 ov), 4-155 (Jayawardene, 32.1 ov), 5-190 (Mathews, 41.1 ov), 6-213 (Mendis, 45.1 ov), 7-218 (Perera, 45.6 ov), 8-219 (Thirimanne, 46.6 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
Z Khan	6	0	36	0	6.00	(3w)
IK Pathan	6	0	27	0	4.50	(1w)
AB Dinda	6	0	28	1	4.66	(2w)
V Kohli	2	0	7	0	3.50
V Sehwag	8	1	38	1	4.75	(1w)
R Ashwin	10	1	46	2	4.60
MK Tiwary	10	1	61	4	6.10	(2w)
RG Sharma	2	0	6	0	3.00

India (target: 252 runs from 50 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
G Gambhir	b Malinga	0	3	5	0	0	0.00
V Sehwag	c sub (Senanayake) b Mathews	34	46	29	6	0	117.24
V Kohli	not out	128	187	119	12	1	107.56
RG Sharma	lbw b Pradeep	4	18	14	0	0	28.57
MK Tiwary	lbw b Mendis	21	48	38	2	0	55.26
SK Raina	not out	58	78	51	4	1	113.72
Extras	(lb 2, w 6, nb 2)	10
Total	(4 wickets; 42.2 overs; 191 mins)	255	(6.02 runs per over)

Did not bat MS Dhoni*†, IK Pathan, R Ashwin, Z Khan, AB Dinda

Fall of wickets 1-0 (Gambhir, 0.5 ov), 2-52 (Sehwag, 9.2 ov), 3-60 (Sharma, 12.4 ov), 4-109 (Tiwary, 23.4 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
SL Malinga	8	1	41	1	5.12	(2w)
NLTC Perera	6	0	51	0	8.50	(1w)
AD Mathews	6	1	18	1	3.00
N Pradeep	8	0	52	1	6.50	(2nb, 1w)
HMRKB Herath	7	0	44	0	6.28
BMAJ Mendis	6	0	37	1	6.16
TM Dilshan	1.2	0	10	0	7.50

Toss Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat

India (Playing XI): Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashok Dinda

Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal(w), Mahela Jayawardene(c), Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Pradeep, Lasith Malinga

India vs Sri Lanka 3rd ODI – Scorecard

2012-07-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

India vs Sri Lanka 3rd ODI turned out to be a superb cricketing match going down to the last over to decide the winner.

The two left handers Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina were the Star Performers of the 3rd ODI!!

Sri Lanka 286/5 (50 ov), India 288/5 (49.4 ov)

Result India won by 5 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)

Man of the match Suresh Raina

Sri Lanka (50 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
WU Tharanga	c †Dhoni b Khan	8	24	20	1	0	40.00
TM Dilshan	b Khan	4	11	7	0	0	57.14
KC Sangakkara†	c Kohli b Dinda	73	160	95	5	0	76.84
LD Chandimal	lbw b Pathan	0	3	3	0	0	0.00
DPMD Jayawardene*	lbw b R Sharma	65	108	79	5	0	82.27
AD Mathews	not out	71	94	57	5	1	124.56
BMAJ Mendis	not out	45	60	40	3	1	112.50
Extras	(b 2, lb 8, w 9, nb 1)	20
Total	(5 wickets; 50 overs; 233 mins)	286	(5.72 runs per over)

Did not bat NLTC Perera, HMRKB Herath, I Udana, SL Malinga

Fall of wickets 1-9 (Dilshan, 2.3 ov), 2-19 (Tharanga, 4.5 ov), 3-20 (Chandimal, 5.3 ov), 4-141 (Jayawardene, 29.2 ov), 5-182 (Sangakkara, 37.6 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
Z Khan	10	0	39	2	3.90	(3w)
IK Pathan	10	0	59	1	5.90	(1nb, 3w)
AB Dinda	10	0	76	1	7.60	(1w)
R Sharma	8	0	45	1	5.62	(1w)
R Ashwin	10	0	50	0	5.00	(1w)
V Sehwag	1	0	3	0	3.00
RG Sharma	1	0	4	0	4.00

India (target: 287 runs from 50 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
G Gambhir	run out (Udana)	102	166	101	10	0	100.99
V Sehwag	c sub (SMSM Senanayake) b Perera	3	6	6	0	0	50.00
V Kohli	c & b Herath	38	80	65	2	0	58.46
MS Dhoni*†	b Malinga	31	60	49	1	0	63.26
RG Sharma	lbw b Malinga	0	1	1	0	0	0.00
SK Raina	not out	65	77	45	6	1	144.44
IK Pathan	not out	34	61	31	3	0	109.67
Extras	(lb 11, w 4)	15
Total	(5 wickets; 49.4 overs; 228 mins)	288	(5.79 runs per over)

Did not bat R Ashwin, Z Khan, R Sharma, AB Dinda

Fall of wickets 1-8 (Sehwag, 1.4 ov), 2-113 (Kohli, 20.5 ov), 3-180 (Dhoni, 35.1 ov), 4-180 (RG Sharma, 35.2 ov), 5-196 (Gambhir, 38.3 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
SL Malinga	10	0	60	2	6.00
NLTC Perera	9	0	57	1	6.33
I Udana	6	0	42	0	7.00	(4w)
AD Mathews	8.4	0	49	0	5.65
HMRKB Herath	9	0	36	1	4.00
TM Dilshan	3	0	14	0	4.66
BMAJ Mendis	4	0	19	0	4.75

It was Suresh Raina who played a brilliant knock to turn the game in India's favor . But Earlier Gautam Gambhir scored an excellent century to keep hopes of India alive to win the match!

Toss Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat

India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Irfan Pathan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Ashok Dinda

Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Dinesh Chandimal, Mahela Jayawardene(c), Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Rangana Herath, Isuru Udana, Lasith Malinga

London Olympics Opening Ceremony Photos

2012-07-27T19:13:00.003-07:00

The 2012 London Olympics got underway with a spectacular opening ceremony at the Olympics stadium here on Friday night.

And after a long suspense, there were seven young athletes who lit the Olympic cauldron. The chairman of the London Organising Committee, Sebastian Coe, and the president of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, delivered speeches and Britain's 86-year-old monarch Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Games.

Unlike the 2008 Beijing Olympics' curtain raiser, which featured 2,008 pounding drummers and a cauldron-lighter who seemed to float in the air of the Bird's Nest stadium, London 2012 opening ceremony had 70 sheep, 12 horses, 10 chickens and nine geese - recruited by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle along with a cast and crew of 10,000 presented a quirky, humourous and vibrant vision of quintessential Britain, its history and future.

London Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony

2012-07-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

The Opening Ceremony is a celebration showcasing the best of the Host Nation. It also features a parade of all competing nations and the highly anticipated entrance of the Olympic Flame, which ignites the Cauldron and signals the start of the Games.

The eyes of the world will be on London for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The Ceremony will provide an opportunity for the world to view the artistic expression of the Artistic Director (Danny Boyle) and his team, and the culture of our Host City and the UK. There are certain elements that must feature in every Ceremony, as outlined in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) charter. The artistic performance of the Ceremony then gets underway and welcomes the world to the London 2012 Games.

The name of the Olympic Opening Ceremony show will be ‘Isles of Wonder’ and the worldwide broadcast will commence at 9pm. The Ceremony will kick off with the sound of the largest harmonically tuned bell in Europe, produced by the Whitechapel Foundry, and the Stadium will be transformed into the British countryside for opening scene ‘Green and Pleasant’, which includes real farmyard animals. The Ceremony will also include a special sequence celebrating the best of British, featuring volunteer performers from the NHS.

Danny Boyle, Artistic Director of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, said: ‘Our Isles of Wonder salutes and celebrates the exuberant creativity of the British genius in an Opening Ceremony that we hope will be as unpredictable and inventive as the British people.’

Receiving the Head of State

The Head of State of the Host Country is received at the entrance of the Olympic Stadium by the President of the IOC. For the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, Her Majesty the Queen will be greeted by Jacques Rogge.

Parade of Athletes

A procession of the participating teams in the Stadium, nation by nation. Teams enter in alphabetical order, according to the language of the Host Country, apart from the Greek team, which enters first for the Olympics, and the team of the Host Nation (in this case Team GB), who march in last.

Speeches

Once all the nations have arrived into the Stadium, LOCOG Chair Seb Coe will give a speech, followed by Jacques Rogge. They will end their speeches by inviting the Head of State to officially declare the Games open.

Olympic Anthem and Flag

Once the Games have been declared open, the Olympic Flag is then carried into the Stadium and hoisted into the air as the respective Anthem is played. The Olympic Charter states that each flag must fly for the entire duration of the Games – placed in a prominent position in the main Stadium.

Oaths

A participating athlete, judge and coach from the Host Nation stand on the rostrum and, holding a corner of the IOC flag in their left hand and raising their right, take the Oath, vowing to compete and judge according to the rules of their respective sport,.

The Torch and Cauldron

The big finale is the entrance of the Olympic Flame into the Stadium. It is passed through the athletes to the final Torchbearer, who will ceremoniously light the Cauldron, indicating the beginning of the Games. The Flame will continue to burn for the whole of the Games.

Creative team

A host of world-class British directors and producers are leading the artistic team to stage the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Performers

A total cast of 15,000 will take part in the London 2012 Opening and Closing Ceremonies, which will be watched by an estimated audience of four billion.

India vs Sri Lanka 3rd ODI

2012-07-25T18:28:00.002-07:00

The series moves down to Colombo where India face Sri Lanka in the 3rd ODI . This is a crucial game in the five match series, whichever team wins this game gains a good upper hand to claim the series.

Knowing That Indians would be looking forward to play to their potential to put up a good fight against the in form Sri Lankans!!

On the other hand the Sri Lankans would love to keep us their form going in the right direction to win the 3rd ODI which would give them a good chance to win the series comfortably.

Sri lanka Beat India in 2nd Odi

2012-07-25T18:20:00.001-07:00

Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews each grabbed three wickets to set up Sri Lanka's comfortable nine-wicket win over India in the second one-day international on Tuesday. Perera finished with 3-19 and Mathews with 3-14 as India were dismissed for 138 off 33.3 overs after

India 138 (33.3 ov), Sri Lanka 139/1 (19.5 ov)

Result Sri Lanka won by 9 wickets (with 181 balls remaining)

Man of the match Thisara Perera

India (50 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
G Gambhir	c †Sangakkara b Malinga	65	158	96	4	0	67.70
V Sehwag	c & b Perera	15	21	15	2	0	100.00
V Kohli	c †Sangakkara b Perera	1	6	5	0	0	20.00
RG Sharma	b Mathews	0	5	5	0	0	0.00
SK Raina	b Perera	1	6	5	0	0	20.00
MS Dhoni*†	c †Sangakkara b Mathews	11	26	16	2	0	68.75
IK Pathan	c Perera b Malinga	6	28	19	0	0	31.57
R Ashwin	run out (Udana/†Sangakkara)	21	19	15	3	0	140.00
Z Khan	lbw b Herath	2	6	4	0	0	50.00
PP Ojha	c †Sangakkara b Mathews	5	27	18	0	0	27.77
UT Yadav	not out	0	5	3	0	0	0.00
Extras	(b 2, lb 4, w 5)	11
Total	(all out; 33.3 overs; 158 mins)	138	(4.11 runs per over)

Fall of wickets 1-31 (Sehwag, 3.6 ov), 2-33 (Kohli, 5.3 ov), 3-38 (Sharma, 6.4 ov), 4-41 (Raina, 7.4 ov), 5-60 (Dhoni, 14.1 ov), 6-79 (Pathan, 19.5 ov), 7-107 (Ashwin, 23.6 ov), 8-113 (Khan, 25.4 ov), 9-132 (Ojha, 32.3 ov), 10-138 (Gambhir, 33.3 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
SL Malinga	7.3	0	36	2	4.80
I Udana	6	0	42	0	7.00	(5w)
NLTC Perera	8	3	19	3	2.37
AD Mathews	7	2	14	3	2.00
HMRKB Herath	5	0	21	1	4.20

Sri Lanka (target: 139 runs from 50 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
WU Tharanga	not out	59	85	60	8	0	98.33
TM Dilshan	c †Dhoni b Ashwin	50	72	49	5	0	102.04
LD Chandimal	not out	6	12	10	1	0	60.00
Extras	(lb 10, w 14)	24
Total	(1 wicket; 19.5 overs)	139	(7.00 runs per over)

Did not bat KC Sangakkara†, DPMD Jayawardene*, AD Mathews, HDRL Thirimanne, NLTC Perera, HMRKB Herath, I Udana, SL Malinga

Fall of wickets 1-119 (Dilshan, 16.4 ov)

Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
Z Khan	6	0	39	0	6.50	(6w)
IK Pathan	4	0	27	0	6.75	(4w)
UT Yadav	4	0	38	0	9.50
R Ashwin	5	1	18	1	3.60	(1w)
PP Ojha	0.5	0	7	0	8.40

The third one-day international will be played in Colombo on Saturday. The Indian team will try desperately to win the third game and gain an upper hand in the series.

Kumar Sangakara Wallpapers

2012-07-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

Lasith Malinga Wallpapers

2012-07-23T19:22:00.001-07:00

Beijing Olympic Stadium vs London Olympic Stadium

2012-07-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

Beijing Olympic Stadium

Interesting Facts

The bird’s nest can withstand an earthquake of up to magnitude 8 on the Richter Scale.
At the peak of construction there were over 9,000 workers on the project.
The project budget began at $500M before it was drastically reduced to just under $300M.

The facilities:

The 91,000-seater venue has a four-star hotel with 80 rooms under one of its sides, a gourmet restaurant with views of the athletics track, and a twin-level underground shopping centre.

Its architects also claim it is one of the most environmentally-friendly stadiums in the world, as under soil

geothermal pipes help heat indoor parts of stadium in winter and rainwater is collected and stored in underground cisterns for irrigation and to flush lavatories.

London Olympic Stadium 2012

Contrasting with the enormity of the "Bird's Nest" Beijing Games, the Olympic Stadium in London is simple in design. At a cost of 486 million pounds (720 million francs), it was designed as a modular structure so that they can be reused after the Games. Its upper floor, made of steel and concrete houses and 55 000 temporary seats can be dismantled in order to reduce the total capacity of 80 000 to 25 000 seats.

India vs Sri Lanka 2nd ODI

2012-07-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

India vs Sri Lanka the 2nd ODI is scheduled on 24th July 2012, after winning the first match of the series , Indians will be high on confidence, especially the likes of Virat Kholi, Sehwag and Raina. Indian Team would like to keep the winning momentum going.

Sri Lankan veteran Kumar Sangakara put up a brilliant knock of 131 in the first ODI, and he would be high on confidence for the 2nd ODI.
Sri Lankans would be hoping to put forward a better performance in all the three departments in the remaining games after a poor performance in the first match.

Hashim Amla triple century

2012-07-22T17:56:00.004-07:00

Hashim Amla made 311 not out as South Africa made 637 for two declared; a first innings lead of 252.
England were 102 for four at the close, needing another 150 runs to avoid an innings defeat.

"I am happy, surprised and really excited that I managed to do something that has never been done before by a South African, but the biggest pleasure is that the team is in a dominant position to win this Test match," said Amla.
He said a triple century had not been on his mind until he reached 250.

"I didn't dream about getting 300," he said. "I've always been a person who never sets goals. In many ways that helps you because you can keep going without being limited.

Amla and Jacques Kallis (182 not out) batted with relentless concentration and skill as they put on an unbeaten 377 for the third wicket, a record for any wicket in matches between England and South Africa.
Amla paid tribute to his two partners in stands that sapped the energy from the England bowlers.
He put on 259 for the second wicket with captain Graeme Smith before he and Kallis took the game beyond England's reach.

"It was tough going early doors," he said. "They bowled really well. Graeme and I hung in there and he batted superbly. His knock was a major stepping stone for us.

"Jacques was extremely supportive at the other end. He's such an experienced campaigner and he gave a lot of support and guidance."