Oppurtunity goes abegging....!

England beat india by 3 wickets at Manchester to take a lead of 3-1 in the natwest series.Rahul Dravid won the toss for the record fouth time in row and chose to bat.england had done their homework well making indians struggle for every run.The tight line and length of the english bowlers was evident by the fact that india could scamper for only 30 odd runs in the first 10 overs,pressure led to wickets tumbling one after the other .tendulkar and yuvaraj with their laboured fifties were the only noteworthy scorers of the indian innings with their 55 and 71 respectively.late flourish by zaheer saw india go past the 200 run mark ending their innings at the 49 th over with 213 on board to defend.chris braod had 4 for 51 and anderson had 3 wickets for 38
for once indian pacers opened well with zaheer removing cook with no score on board.Agarkar looked to prove that he is still worth a place in the side bowling well removing bell,prior, piterson and flintoff.Owais shah was foxed by powar and a misunderstanding between collingwood and bopara meant collingwood had to walk a long walk back to the pavillion.Indians seemed to to be well in control of the game then.But what awited them was a good fight back by Ravi Bopara and Chris Broad.the fielding woes of the indians only making the job easier for the english batsman.Bopara probably showed indians how to bat under prssure as he held his nerve for a well made 43.chris broad made 45.Engalnd reached the target in the 48th over.
Two more days to go and rahul dravid will have a lot of thinking to do if he hopes of ending the english summer on a high...come on team India chak de....!.winning is a habit its high time u get into it.....

Advantage England...

England won the third ODI of the natwest series a edgbaston beating India by 42 runs.England now lead the series 2-1.Chasing a target of 282, india was all out for 238.India played with Zaheer in place of agarkar.England played with monty panesar and owais shah who replaced the injured Flintoff and mascarenhas.
Earlier in the day dravid won the toss and with 5 bowlers on his side put england in.The supposed moisture on the early morning wicket just seemed to be a myth as England put 76 runs for the first wicket.Indians continued to embarass in the field with sloppy fielding and dropeed catches.The scoring rate was well at ease till the spinners came on.Pieterson again misreading chawla only to land up playing all over it. Useful parnerships in the middle order with bell(79runs),collingwood(44 runs)saw england reach a competitive score of 281 for 8,with the last 15 runs of the england innings coming off the very last over.RP singh returned with 3 for 55 runs.
The chase needed Indian openers to anchor themselves firmly and a flurry of fours in the beginning giving a plenty for the supporters to cheer.tendulkar fell to anderson and with the ploy of karthik moving up the order failing it was upto dravid to do the resurrection.He did not let his team down, building a partnership of 104 with ganguly with his individual score at 56 falling to tremlett.Ganguly too fell soon to tremlet at 72 on the way going past beyond 11000 ODI runs,only after sachin,lara,inzamam and jayasuriya.Yuvraj and dhoni tried to put up a fight,but with dhoni dismissed by anderson and yuvraj fallin prey to a run out meant the chase was never in place with india losing the match by 42 runs.Anderson took 3 wickets for 32 runs.India has a lot of homework to do to bring themselves back in the series be it the batting, bowling and most important fielding..misfields throughout doesnt speak too well of any team's capacity n the soon it is rectified the better....wake up India n well done England.

Its even steven!

India finally managed a victory to square up the series at 1-1.chasing a target of 330, england came too close for comfort finishing at 320 for8 at the end of the 50th over.england started their run chase at ease with agarkar providing them help with his wayward line and length.the 60 up for england just in the 8 th over did speak bout the opening bowlers woes. But munaf's breakthrough in succession dismissing prior and cook must have cooled some nerves of the skipper.India's gamble of two spinners came off when kevin pieterson got foxed by chawla.pieterson just did not seem to understand how he got out.chawla ended with 3 wickets and so did munaf with 3 for 70.just when all looked under place for India,in came mascarenhas,the 20-20 specialist for england smacking the bowlers all around the ground.His 52 off 39 balls gave some scare for sure,but dint last long.Victory,by a narrow margin was in India's favor,though the psychological edge is still with the englishmen
India had 4 dropped catches,sloppy fielding also to add to their worries.its the third time India has conceded over 300 runs and its high time the thinking cap is put on.Buck up India if u dream of winning the series.allowing ur opponent to come so close isnt always good..

Way to go India....

The 2nd match of the natwest series between India and England at the Bristol turned out to be a good outing for the Indian batsmen who seem to gettin back to their good old form after the hapless show at the Rosebowl a couple of days back as they have put England on a mammoth run chase of 330.India had 2 changes in Munaf and Powar in place of Gambhir n Zaheer n english have gone for all pace attack leavin Panesar
Sachin Tendulkar....Master is a master
The picturesque ground at bristol had plenty to offer but none better than the little master's innings of 99.though he missed his ton by a run,the 99 is as good as a hundred if not better.He cut, pulled and leashed his on drives at ease only leaving the english skipper searching for bowlers.lookinat him play one could just recall wat was once told to Dr W.G.Grace by a bowler"i bowl in areas where i please and he hits them where he is pleased".Though Tendulkar still cannot be said to be in his best self,i am sure most batsmen around the world,will love to be in such form any day.after being dropped at 57 by tremlett,a tough chance,he stil played with panache for his 99 though it turned out to be painstakinly slow in his 90s.Ganguly n yuvraj also played well for39 n 49 respectively....Rahul Dravid was his trademark best in his 92 not out,anchorin the innings once sachin left.Rahul knows his job the best and that is exactly what he did.Good job skipper..Flintoff got the 1st 5 wicket haul,the only smile for england in the 1st session.the latest score read 98 for 2at teh 15 over mark,with cook and prior out by munaf...hope it turns to be a good match..You need to win to keep some hopes on the series..so all the best India

Its more important than a Cricket match !

I agree with general view that ICL is good for first class cricketers and for the game in general. But I think there is one more fundamental reason why we should support an effort like ICL. India, a sovereign country, gives its citizens a bunch of fundamental rights - chief among them is the right to chase one's dreams - whatever they may be - within the boundaries set forth by the constitution. Since early 90s, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit have catapulted India into a league where its citizens could (at least) dare to dream.

To me, BCCI's attempts at hindering ICL's progress are against the very spirit, ideology that drives modern India. I think every Indian citizen has a stake in this - even those who don't care about Cricket. Because, it is simply more fundamental and more important than a cricket match. It's about freedom.

I do not expect BCCI to go out of its way and help the new kid in the block, but at least don't throw stones at him. What hurts most is the manner in which the luminaries of Indian cricket are silent on this (and you know whom I am talking about :-).