The ‘Virat’ show

Flashback mode: In 2011, India hosted the ICC World Cup (50 over format) and emerged as champions after 28 long years. However, their journey was not a smooth ride to begin with. After crossing the knock-out stage they met Australia in their quarterfinal match. Four-times champion Australia were a hard team to beat. But nothing punctured the spirits of the team and India sent the Kangaroos packing in a mouth-watering clash in Ahmedabad to book a date with arch rivals Pakistan in the semis and as we know the rest in history.

Cut to present: India are again playing host for the ICC World T20 tournament and India has set its date with Australia in a virtual quarterfinal match at Mohali. It’s a do or die game for both the teams and whoever wins will play the semi-finals with the in-form West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. History repeated itself and India again defeated the Australian side to move ahead in the tournament.

What is common between both the situations? Some might say the same opponent; some might say Dhoni the captain; some might say Yuvraj Singh but above all these common factors there are two strong individuals whose contribution could not be ignored and paved the way for India. In 2011, Sachin Tendulkar contributed with its majestic 53 runs and set the tone for the match. Today, Virat Kohli- The ‘New God of Cricket’ chased down the target of 161 and guided its team to another victory single-handedly.

Have India got a replacement for Sachin Tendulkar? Is Kohli the new ‘God of Cricket’? Can he surpass the record set by the legend himself? All these questions are being raised by everybody but according to me-There is only one Sachin Tendulkar and only one Virat Kohli. 

Summary: The IS Bindra Stadium had geared up for the clash between the Men in Blue and the Kangaroos and with a packed stadium behind them India had to go for the kill. Having lost the toss India was put in to field first. Usman Khwaja got off to a flier and expressed their intent straightway. They have been and continue to play the aggressive brand of cricket. At the end of the power play over, Australia piled a score of 59/1 and was looking towards a target of close to 200. However, the Indian bowlers pulled things back and started taking crucial wickets at regular intervals to put a break on the scoring. After the bowlers went for plenty in the first six overs, Jadeja and Yuvraj picked up crucial wickets and kept the Australian batsmen quiet. Bumrah and Nehra were spot on at the death too and prevented Australia from getting an improbable total. From 53/0 in four overs, India did well to restrict Australia to 160.

Looking at the track everybody knew it would not be an easy chase and the Indian openers had to rise to the occasion and perform if India needed to move ahead in the tournament. They got off to a steady start but after showing some promise Dhawan fell 13 on Coulter-Nile’s delivery. In came Virat Kohli and raised the hopes of every Indian that he can chase this one down as well. Kohli and Sharma continued manoeuvring the bowlers and squeezing in the runs. But Watson playing his last match of his cricketing career did not wish to bow out without a fight. In his first over itself, he removed Sharma and Raina and made the chase all more difficult with run-rate creeping up with every passing ball. Kohli stuck at the other end patiently and the next batsman to come in was Yuvraj. A crucial 45-run stand was stitched between both the batsman but an injured Yuvraj was dismissed at 21 by Faulkner (having strained his ankle in the first over itself he came in to bat). 

Top-notch running from these two men

 

With the run rate now have climbed 12 runs per over the captain came in to bat. Both the batsman had their job cut out for them. Dhoni and Kohli began running hard between the wickets and converted the ones into twos and twos into threes, which did not happen with Yuvraj since he was injured. With India needing 59 from the last five overs, Kohli had cut loose and dismantled the bowling attack of the Australians. First, he took Faulkner to the cleaners and then made light of the chase by targeting Coulter-Nile next. After having scored 82 from 51 balls the master of chases had guided his team again to a victory and as we no match is complete without Dhoni hitting the winning runs and this came true in the match as well as Dhoni finished it off in style by hitting a powerful six in the first ball of the last over taking India over the boundary line. India had beaten Australia by six wickets and are now through to the semi-finals of the ICC World T20 2016.

Thank You Virat!

 All images have been sourced from: espn cricinfo

India beat Bangladesh in last-ball thriller

India beat Bangladesh  to keep their hopes alive in the tournament 

Until the last ball is bowled it’s not over. This would best describe the match that was played between India and Bangladesh.  

India survived a scare and kept their hopes alive of entering the semi-final of ICC World T20. Playing in Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, India lost the toss and was put in to bat first by the Bangladeshi skipper, Mashrafe Mortaza. On a slow pitch Bangladeshi stuck to their plans and bowled with utmost discipline and restricted India at the score of 146. No batsman could convert their starts into a big score and the poor run of Indian batsman continued in this tournament. 

When the Bangladeshi batsman came on to bat they were cruising all along the chase. The poor fielding only added to the woes of captain MS Dhoni. Crucial breakthroughs were provided by Ashwin and Jadeja but other bowlers were taken to the cleaners by the Bangladeshi batsman. Jasprit Bumrah particularly, had a bad day in office after he dropped a sitter in the first over and was then taken to the cleaners when he came onto bowl. 

Throughout the match Bangladeshi team were in command over the ‘Big Brothers’.  However, things turned around for the Indian team in the 19^th and 20^th over. Bumrah gave only 6 runs in the 19^th over and now the Bangladeshi team needed only 11 runs off the last over. Pandya was asked to bowl the last over and with two set batsman on the crease in Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah it was only a matter of time for the Bangladeshi team to start their celebration as they would have spoilt India’s party, yet again. 

After hitting a four of the third ball, Mushfiqur had already punched the air and was celebrating their victory but Mushfiqur lofted a six but was caught in the deep by Dhawan. Now Mahmudullah would face the next ball but he too could not hold on to his nerve and while hitting a six was caught by Jadeja. Bangladesh needed two runs to force a tie, but Pandya bowled wide to beat Shuvagata Hom and Mustafizur Rahman was run out by Dhoni.  India registered a thumping one run victory over Bangladesh. The win keeps India on course, and a victory over Australia in the final league game on March 27 will see them through to the semi-finals behind leaders New Zealand. 

Hardik Pandya celebrates India's victory after picking up two wickets in the last over

The next match is against the Kangaroos, which will be a virtual quarter-final and the Australians will not commit hara-kiri as the Bangladeshi did hence, maybe the sprint of MS Dhoni will not also save the day!

Triumph at Eden

The marque clash at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on Saturday was no less than a blockbuster movie. The stage was set and the script worked out to perfection for team India. 

India had maintained a hundred per cent record against Pakistan in all ICC tournaments but the Eden Gardens statistics heavily favoured Pakistan. However, history was re-written this time and India won the match on the back of a disciplined bowling attack and a solid performance from the start batsman of the Indian team-Virat Kohli. Much has been spoken and written about how the performance if Virat Kohli hence, I will only maintain one line-He is in a league of his own.

Having won the toss, India decided to field first because it had been raining heavily in Kolkata since morning and how the pitch will play was a tricky call (credit is due for the ground staff who made the ground ready in time for the play to start). The match was reduced to 18 overs and India opened it bowling with Nehra. The ball was turning like a top and Ashwin bowled three overs within the power play itself signifying the crucial role of the spinners in the game. Sharjeel miscued the Raina delivery and Pandya took a stunning catch to get rid of the opener with the score board standing at Pakistan 38/1. Shahid Afridi again promoted himself up the order and came into bat next with the Pakistani fans hoping he will weave the same magic as he did in the previous fame against Bangladesh. However, none of the Pakistani batsmen could convert their start into big scores. In the end, the Pakistani team folded for 118/5 in their quota of 18 overs and now all eyes were on the Indian batsman and their approach to the game.

Amir commenced the proceedings for the Pakistani team and conceded only four runs in the first over. Both the openers were setting themselves up for the big game and squeezing runs as both Amir and Irfan were bowling in tandem with much discipline. The first blow came in for India when Rohit Sharma fell for 10 runs and the score stood for 10/1. Muhammad Sami was the first change bowler and it was important that he sustained pressure in the middle overs after some good bowling by Amir and Irfan. Sami struck gold and removed Dhawan and Yuvraj in successive deliveries bringing Yuvraj on the field. He was riding on a hat-trick but Yuvraj sustained the hat-trick delivery. In order to continue mounting the pressure and rattle the nerves of Yuvraj and Kohli, skipper Afridi bought himself into the attack so that he could exploit the conditions, which was assisting the slow bowlers. India were playing too may dot balls and the pressure was mounting with run rate increasing with each passing ball. However, neither Yuvraj nor Kohli were in a mood to go down without a fight and soon started targeting the bowlers. Fifty was up for India in the ninth over; with India needing another 69 from 57 balls now. Both the batsmen were set and gearing for a big one with the gap between balls and runs narrowing with every passing over. However, India lost Yuvraj at the score of 84 and now the equation stood 37 off only 25. It seemed that Pakistan skipped a trick of playing one less spinner but then since, the pitch was under the cover throughout nobody really knew how it will play out. The next batsman to come in was MS Dhoni and Kohli on the other end was batting beautifully and reached his fifty soon. Celebrating this milestone he bowed down to towards the stand where Sachin was seated and dedicated his innings to him. It seemed that both Kohli and Dhoni were in a hurry to finish their job at hand. Dhoni inched a step closer with his winning six and then finally scored the winning runs for India. India beat Pakistan by six wickets at the Eden Gardens and kept their hopes alive of progressing ahead in the tournament and booking their spot in the semi-finals.

In a low-scoring encounter Kohli stood as an anchor and guided India to a win.

Virat Kohli took India home with its unbeaten knock of 55 runs against Pakistan on Saturday

Now the eyes are set on the next target where India will play Bangladesh in Bengaluru and have to win by a big margin to not only improve their net run rate but also in order to progress in the tournament since, the contest is wide open.

Kiwis beat favourites India in World T20 opener

India entered the ICC World T20 tournament as the number one ranked team in the world and as clear favourites to win the title. However, they have started their journey in this tournament not on a bed of roses but on a bed of thorns. India was annihilated last night by the dark horses of the tournament-The New Zealand side in their opening match at Nagpur, losing by 47 runs, making it five out of five defeats to New Zealand in T20Is.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first against the home team. Though the average score on this track was 150+, the home team did a commendable job in the folding the New Zealand side for 126 runs in their 20 overs. Martin Guptill (6) opened the Super-10 stage with a six, hitting Ashwin straight. But in the same over, he walked towards the dugout, as the off spinner caught him plumb in front. Nehra came in next and also bowled according to the plan and chipped in another wicket. Dhoni then surprised everybody by bringing in Raina in the seventh over but the off spinner did well and spun his magic. The wickets were falling at regular intervals and New Zealand did try to accelerate the run rate as well however, in that bargain they lost wickets. The hundred came as late as 17.2 overs, and it was only a cameo of 21* off 11 from Luke Ronchi that got the Black Caps past 120 due to the efforts of Jasprit Bumrah, who excels at the death, and came away with 1 for 15.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first 

After the New Zealand innings ended all hopes rested on the tall batting order of India. From cricket experts to commentators and from the fans to the media, all knew that India would chase down a small target as this easily. However, that was not the case. The Kiwis unleashed the spin trio of Nathan McCullum, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi on the Indian batsmen and then all fell like a pack of cards in front of their home crowd for a meagre 79 all out.  Opening their defence with Nathan McCullum, the Kiwis struck gold right away, getting Shikhar Dhawan (1) LBW. Rohit Sharma (5) became the first of Santner's four victims. The left-arm orthodox bowler brought double delight for the Kiwis removing Suresh Raina (1) in the same over, a soft dismissal that saw the left-hander giving an easy catch to short mid-wicket. Corey Anderson was introduced, allowing Virat Kohli to break the shackles with two boundaries. But Yuvraj, the new man, didn't last long. t 39 for 4, India had a match on their hands. But the introduction of Sodhi got the Blacks Caps the biggest wicket. Kohli, batting at 23 off 26 at that moment, tried to drive Sodhi, only to find an edge settling into Luke Ronchi's gloves. Hardik Pandya went LBW to Santner for 1, soon followed by Jadeja, who saw Sodhi taking a stunning return catch to send him back for a duck.

New Zealand players celebrate as Shikhar Dhawan returns to the pavilion during the World T20 match in Nagpur on Tuesday. 

 

Skipper MS Dhoni and Ravichandra Ashwin tried their bit with a 30-run partnership, but it was all getting out of hands with the require rate soaring. Dhoni brought the crowd back on its feet with a straight six off Sodhi, but the legspinner dismissed Ashwin in the same over to bring the end nearer at 73 for 8. It ended soon afterwards with Dhoni's (30 off 30) wicket making it the best day in the T20I office for Santner with figures of 4 for 11. Sodhi was the second best bowler with 3 for 18, followed by McCullum's 2 for 15. Adam Milne (1 for 8) claimed the last man, Nehra. This was India's second lowest total in T20Is, after the 74 they scored against Australia.

MS Dhone- The lone warrior

New Zealand did well to start the tournament with 2 points in their kitty and on the other hand the Indian cricket team did get a wake-up call as well. Now all eyes will be set on the all-important, India vs Pakistan clash this Saturday, which is now become a must win-match for the Indian team.