Live Match Analysis - India vs South Africa Test match

South Africa have won the ODI series 2-0 and they go into test series with full confident. Indian cricket team on the other hand needs to start fresh for the test. All of the team batsmen were going  great guns prior to this series but all of the sudden they all have batting and form issues.

For India there are some good news like Pujara coming to the team who is more technical and fit to survive in these seam friendly balling conditions. Also experienced Zaheer Khan can make a complete difference in the bowling.

Match is just to begin in some minutes and the news form the Johannesburg, cricket ground is that Indian captain M S Dhoni have won the match and decided to bat first. I tweeted few minuted back that first two session will decide the future of the series for team India and with Indian team batting first this seems to be a predictions that might be true.  :

First two sessions of the play today are sufficient to predict the results of the series #indiavsSA #testcricket - http://t.co/KK5v5cJRTg
— Vinay Kumar (@vinay11111) December 18, 2013

One main attraction of this match would be Khan vs Smith war. Zaheer Khan has dismissed Smith a lot of times in recent past and lets see how this dual goes on.

Best wishes to both the team.

Looking forward to an excellent day of test cricket today.

A little about history of Ashes Test Series

Ashes test series is no doubt the most popular cricket test match series in the world. No test match series drives this much excitement and I feel that an Ashes test match is second only to a world cup ODI match between India and Pakistan.

Today when the first test match on Ashes 2013 is being played already I decided to share some information and interesting facts about Ashes series with the readers of this blog.

First Ashes series was played way back in the year 1882 between Australia and England. Since then Ashes is being played between two countries and the excitement and interest of fans is ever growing.  Ashes series is held one in every two years and played alternately at England and Australia. If ever the series ends in a draw the team then the country already holding the trophy retains it till the next series.

History of Ashes:

In the year 1882, a visiting Australian team beat England by 7 runs. This was like a shock to the English cricket team fans and most of them felt that this was end of England team’s supremacy in cricket. Many newspapers published that this defeat is the death of English team cricket and Ashes being taken to Australia.

Here is the full quote about the same : "In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P. N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia."

English media published lots of news, poems criticizing the English cricket team and praising the Austrians. When the England team was to tour Australia next, it was publicized as the "quest to retain the Ashes".  When England team arrived in Melbourne, the then captain of England team, Ivo Bligh was presented a terracotta urn by a group of women in Melbourne. It’s believed that the urn contained ashes of bails. Since this was a gift to the captain he retained it but the replica of that urn is being kept by the winning team since then. After the death of Ivo Bligh, his widow gifted the urn to Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord's.

Ashes 2013 is the 67 Ashes series being played among the two teams and out of the 66 already played, Australian has won 31, England won 30 and 5 series were drawn.  Currently England is retaining the Ashes and let’s see which team will gain the Ashes in 2013. You can catch live action of the Ashes series online.

This was a little about the Ashes series, if you are a cricket fan then you must have also heard about the "Bodyline series". Bodyline series happened in the Ashes 1932-33 and I'll post about this series sometimes later.

2013 first day of cricket on Jan 3

Cricketing worlds will start the new year on Jan 3, 2013 with two interesting matches being played on the day. Sri Lanka will play third and the final test against Australia on Jan 3 and on the same day Indian will face Pakistan in the second one day international (ODI)  match of the three match series.

Both India and Sri Lanka are behind in their respective series. Sri Lanka already lost the series and all they can do now is to keep the defeat margin to 2-1, 2-0. Ausralia on the other hand wil try to go by their reputation and win the series by clean sweep i.e. 3-0.

Now if we analyze the India Pakistan series, the Pakistan team is looking strong here and its 90% likely that Pakistan will win the series as they need to win only one of the remaining two matches. India can only hope for a dramatic change in the fortunes that can lead them to win the remaining two matches.

Still there is one day left for all the teams to make the strategies for the matches. I'd like to wish all the cricket fans in this world a very happy new year. Hopefully we will see more interesting matches in 2013 and I am expecting a handful of players declaring retirements from International cricket.

India tour of Australia and Super Century

Indian team arrived in Australia well in advance this time and also has played 2 practice matches. This show that team India and BCCI is really looking forward to perform well in the test match series. Because another tour like one team Indian had in England will mean the team is good at home grounds only.

We will get to know how team India will perform against slightly inexperienced Australian squad one day after Christmas, when the first test match will begin. But one thing that has been wondering cricket fans is will Sachin Tendulkar score the super century or not. Historically Sachin has scored one century on every tour of
Australia thus we can believe that this time too he will score a century and complete his century of centuries in international cricket.

Lets wait for watch for all the live action of India Vs Australia test cricket after Christmas.

Updates from the test cricket

I thought the first test match between Sri Lanks and Pakistan was going to be dull one after Sri Lank got our to a low total and Pakistan declared first innings at the score of 511 thus taking a first innings lead of more than 300 runs.

I thought it would be same display of batting from the Sri Lankan batsmen and they will loss the match most probablt on the first session of day 5. However Kumar Sangakkara score a century and he sill still not out at 161.

With Sri Lankan scoreboard telling 298/5 at Stumps day 4 and Sri Lanka trail by 16 runs with 5 wickets remaining. Now all Sri Lanka need is to bat more sensibly for around 2 sessions tomorrow. However the strength of Pakistan is the bowling despite dropped catches (5 today), poor umpiring they can create wickets anytime for the side.

Lets see how game progresses tomorrow.

One the other hand Bangladesh one ot best starts the team had again West Indies and have scored 255 runs for the loss of 4 wickets on day 1.

Cricket Updates & Preview of third One Day Match India Vs England

It was nice to see ex-captain Ricky Ponting opening batting for Australia along with Michael Hussey in the first ODI of the one day international cricket match series between South Africa & Australia. Ricky Ponting is playing a good knock at the position he rarely plays and currently batting not out at 61 with Australian score board saying 157/2 in 26 overs.

And the latest update is that Ponting got out at 63 runs, will update more about this live match later. Just keep and eye over scoreboard.

Sri Lanka on the other hand is on back foot after a brilliant bowling by Pakistan bowlers on first day and very brilliant batting by Pakistan batsmen on second day.

Now coming to India vs England ODI series, India is already leading the series 2-0 and may be looking to win the series in Mohali tomorrow but Mohali pitch has something to offer for quick bowlers thus if England win the toss they can keep the series alive.

Cricket Updates for today - Current Matches

Today cricket lovers can enjoy three matches on the weekend i.e.

1. Australia Vs Sri Lanka Test Match Day 4 - Australia is just 1 wicket away to win the first test match of the series. Whereas Sri Lanka need 130 runs. Thus all Sri Lanka can hope for a century of .... nothing Its a matter of one ball while I was updating the blog. Australia has won the match by 129 runs.
   
   
2. Pakistan Vs Zimbawe Test Match Day 3 - This is the only test match to be played between two teams and Zimbawe is once again on the track to improve their cricket. They scored 412 runs in first innings. However Pakistan batsmen are quick in scoring runs and scoring runs quickly. So far result for this match seems to be impossible untill we see some magical spell by Zimbabwe bowlers. Even a drwa would be satisfactory for Zimbabwe.
   
   
3. India Vs England Frist ODI - India lost test series 4-0, they also lost only Twenty twenty match and now they have to play the five match one day series. If India get defeated here then this means the bad phase on Indian cricket has begun. But as India are the world champions one can expect them to win this series, one must not forget they were number one test team in the world before the our of England.
   

England Look for clean Sweep - India Vs England Live Test Match

England team already won the series, achieve number one rankings in ICC test rankings and leading series 3-0. Imagin what frame of mind the England team may be at this point of time, certainly they might be looking for winning the fouth and final test to make it a clean sweep. I'd no doubt about that.

On the other hand India cricket team is all lost, there's nothing good goin for them at the moment however if they need to be back in the number one position they had to begin the process by winning this test.

Latest update is that England won the toss and elected to bat first. Parveen Kumar is not playing for India and R.P Singh makes a comeback in the team after a gap of three years.

Lets see what team India can do in this match.

Also I am posting few wallpapers of what happening in the cricket work in recent days.

Good start for India but still trail by 100 runs

Dravid and VVS Laxman gave India a good start after first ball dismissal of openor Abhimanyu Mukund. Together they both build the partnership of 93 runs, before Laxman got out after scoring 54 runs. It seemed like India can take advantage of the situation but Sachin Tendulkar fell right after lunch, in a situation India still trailing by 100 runs.

Dravid is still looking good and it all depends upon him and the fellow batsmen Raina, Yuvraj and Dhoni to bat well and take some substantial first inning lead even if they have to play some risky shots.

There are still 53 overs left for today but the way Indian team is batting its hard to say if they can take any lead all Indian fans can pray is that they don't loose lots of wickets.

Day 4, Third Test Match - India vs West Indies

Though rain ruined the the play for almost 1.5 days, the third test match stil looks moving towards a dicisive end. and in case there is no result for this match then definitely it would be an interesting draw. I how rain will not play spoilsport here. At stumps on day three India have took lead of 104 runs. India still have 4 wickets in hand and captain M S Dhoni is batting alongwith Harbhajan Singh.

India would like to bat for two session on day 4 however for West Indies target would be to restrict India as quick as possible and dont get the lead past 200. In case Indian team takes a lead of more than 200 runs Match will be over for West Indies no matter how many sessions are left for them to play. Under that cirsumstances they can only play ofr a draw and for which they have to bat also one and half day ( a troublesome task).

Even if West Indies manage to restric team India early within a lead of 150 runs then also they have to bat really really well and at least few good partnership, in case they can manage to loose less than 5 wickets today they will be in a position to take the match to draw. Winning from here for West Indies look one in a million chance.

However cricket is a game of uncertainities anything can happen in this game. Just wait and watch the live 4th day score of the match to see where game progresses from here now on.

West Indies Target to Draw Series - India Vs West Indies Test Match 3

Third and the final test of the three match test series between India and West Indies will be played tomorrow. And Its pretty much sure that West Indies will get on the field to level the series 1-1 and repeat what they managed to achieved in the last series against West Indies few week back.

If West Indies can manage to win the last test match then it'd definitely be an achievement to draw a series against the number one team in the world. For India it can be another chance to win the series by 2-0 and earn more points to strengthen there position in the points table. Also if India win the series they can go to England with a positive node.

Series begin tomorrow and it'd be interesting to see what combinations are picked by both the teams.

India Win Series but Loose Points

So called inexperienced Indian team started well by winning the only T20 match and then first three matches of the 5 Match ODI series, but they lost the remaining two matches of the series and thus it cost one point to the ODI rankings as well.

India currently ranks second in the ICC one day international team rankings and this ranking can be further pushed down to number three if Sri Lanka manages to win the ODI series against England. Both Sri Lanka and England are ranked below India in the ODI team rankings of ICC.

The three test match series starts from 20th June at Kingston. India is the number one test team but this time like ODI team test team is also little inexperienced. West Indies on the other hand managed to draw the test series against Pakistan and they have won last two ODI against India as well.

It'd be interesting to see the competition between both the team. Will bring you all the live action of the first test match between both the team from Kingston, West Indies.

Other match to watch far:
Sri Lanka vs England 3rd NPPower Test, Rose Bowl, 1st day

Live Test Match Score - India Vs Sri Lanka

Live score updates of India Vs SriLaka test match series. Day one has been not so good for India as two Sri Lankan batsmen scored centuries and India can get only two wicekts. Seems like India on the way to loose yet another test match series abroad.

Score at the end of day one:

Sri Lanka 312/2 (90.0 ov)

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first.


On the other hand neighbour Pakistan has manages to draw the test series by winning the second test match against Astralia and is all set for the test match series against England:


Below is the series schedule:

1st Test: England v Pakistan at Nottingham
Jul 29-Aug 2, 2010 (11:00 local, 10:00 GMT)
2nd Test: England v Pakistan at Birmingham
Aug 6-10, 2010 (11:00 local, 10:00 GMT)
Worcs v Pakistanis at Worcester
Aug 13-14, 2010 (11:00 local, 10:00 GMT)
3rd Test: England v Pakistan at The Oval
Aug 18-22, 2010 (11:00 local, 10:00 GMT)
4th Test: England v Pakistan at Lord's
Aug 26-30, 2010 (11:00 local, 10:00 GMT)

India Sri Lanka Test Series - Day 3

Well today it didn't rained and play started. Last days rains and stormed made favorable conditions for Indian seamers and they looked dangerous. But despite the early blog Sri Lakan score has gone past 400 runs and this can be alarming for team India. Currenty Sri Lanka is batting at Sri Lanka 419/7 (104.0 ov) . With another 50+ overs possible today it will a test of stron Indian batting line if they can save the match and India can only play for draw this time.

None of the Indian spinner got any wicket in this inning so far, perhaps it will be Murali to take wickets in his last match.

India Vs South africa - Second test day 5

Now on the last day lets see if weather or Hamla can save south Africa or not, as far as Indian bowling attack is concerned they can get South Africa all out only if all 98 overs are bowled tomorrow.

wishing good luck to team India for number one test country position

India Vs South Africa - Play starts after rain

Well it seemes like rain will help South Africa draw this game however play has started again with South Africa trailing by 232 runs and has 7 wickets in hand. India will need just another 2 wickets to get hold of the match and retain the number one position in ICC test rankings.

Latest news is that only one over was bowled and game has stopped again due to bad light.

India Vs South Africa - Second Test Day 2

Well Indian bowlers did the task well by restricint South Afrcia to a score of 296. South africa last wicket fell early on day two and its now upto Indian batsmen to put great batting performance. India have got to a quick start but also lost two early wickets. Gautam gambhit got run out and Murali vijay wan't able to touch even two figures score. However as Sachin nand Virendar Sehwag are on the crease, India's hope of touching 300 runs today are alive. Let see how both sachin and Sehwag build the innings from here on. If Sachin score a century today, it will be his fourth one in a row.

India Vs South Africa - Will Sachin, Dhoni save test

Yea the question of the moment is will Sachin and Dhoni save the test match for India? Well Sachin is looking in goo dtouch and is on the verge of another test match hundred and Dhoni also have played 50 balls till now and must be having good idea of the pitch now. however the task is not so simple India is trailing by 160 runs with 6 wickets remaining. To draw this match India need to make sure they batt till minimum two sessions of the day fifth, even if they bat till lunch or poost lunch they will also need to have a lead worth enough to drwa the test match. All hopes are on both these batsmen now. one wichet here and India will loose this test match

India Vs SA - India Struggling 66/2 in second Innings on day 3

With minimum 180 overs more or two days of cricket still left to play, India will be struggling to save this test. With Tendulkar and Murali Vijay batting good at the end of the day three play, it will deepnd on how both of these will tackle the south African pace attack on day four. If they are able to amange a 150+ runs partenrship, then India will surely save this match from loosing. Some of the wallpapers from the days play

Steyn - Make most of the Damage to india Batting

Badrianth contributed a half century on debut

Sehwag being defensiuve

Sachin Looking good in second inning

Morkel Celebrating one more wiccket

India forced to Follow on by south Africa

India is on the way to loose its number one position and also and first test being played between India and South Africa. Follwing on and also trailing by more than 350 runs India still has to get some extra batting efforts and very god innings as they against Austraila. But unfortunately both batsmen that saved that match for India (Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman) are not in the team due to injuries.

Chances of such innings are very rares, given India has already lost 2 wickets and all hopes are now on Sachin Tendulkar and other new batsmen to build long partnership. Let see what happens, India will have to work very hards to save this test match India needs to bat 2 full days to save the test and so far they look unable to bat a single day.